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UC-NRLF 


B  3  me  ^15 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Vi-':Xk"«LV-i 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS 

-^  OF  YORE 


I. 


HUMAN   NATURE 


IN   A   VARIETY 


pp  > 


S  P  E  C  T  S 


*  1*: 


* 


BY 


WALTERxDENING 


^' 


THE    HAKUBUNSHA, 

TOKYO,    JAPAIY. 


i\. 


\ 


apatt   in    ^ajs 


4  &W    Y 0 E  1 «  1^ 


BY 


W^LTl^  .  ©mm^. 


PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED 
BY 

THE    HAKUBUNSHA,    TOKYO, 

OSAKA.  FUKUOKA-KEN. 

CHIBA-KEN.       SAITAMA-KEN. 

1887'. 


ml 


1 


IDT 


<*  Thou  unrelenting  Past  I 
"  Strong  are  the  barriers  round  thy  dark  domain, 

**  And  fetters  sure  and  fast 
"  Hold  all  that  enter  thy  unbreathing  reign. 

**  Far  in  thy  realm  withdrawn, 
**  Old  empires  sit  in  suUenness  and  gloom, 
**  And  glorious  ages  gone 
**  Lie  deep  within  the  shadow  of  thy  womb.** 

WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT. 

D 


ivip  0 


PBEPACE. 

The  following  tale  is  one  of  a  series  to 
be  published  bearing  on  the  life  and  manners 
of  old  Japan. 

The  tendency  among  the  natives  of  this 
country  to  neglect  to  study  and  hence  to  fail 
to  appreciate  the  numerous  interesting  phases 
of  the  lives  of  their  ancestors,  immediate  and 
remote,  however  unavoidable,  has  the  effect 
of  keeping  locked  away  in  storehouses,  access 
to  which  few  foreigners  enjoy,  numerous 
treasures,  literary,  scientific,  philosophical,  and 
ethical,  which,  were  they  exposed  to  view, 
would  be  highly  appreciated  by  the  world 
at  large,  and  would  go  far  to  make  the 
national  character  of  the  Japanese  better 
understood    than    it    now   is.      It    is    in    the 


ii*  PREFACE. 

calm  waters  of  ancient  Japanese  life  that 
the  traits  of  the  national  character  are  the 
most  clearly  reflected.  There  is  too  much 
motion  and  change  in  the  life  of  modem 
days  to  allow  of  anything  being  portrayed 
but  a  representation  at  once  broken  and 
ill-defined,  that  is  more  of  a  caricature  than 
a    picture. 

In  order  to  do  something,  however  humble, 
towards  disclosing  the  treasures  that  lie 
concealed  in  hundreds  of  books  which  few 
foreigners  are  able  to  read,  and  fewer  still 
have  the  leisure  to  study  and  to  reproduce 
in  another  tongue,  I  have  undertaken  to 
write  a  series  of  tales  bearing  on  the  Japan 
of  the  past.  The  series  is  to  consist  of 
translations,  in  some  cases,  paraphrases  or 
adaptations,  in  others,  of  well  known  Japanese 
stories  and  biographies. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  to  a  certain  class 
oi    readers    the    style    adopted    in  this   series 


PREFACE.  ill 

may  seem   objectionable  owing  to  the   number 
of  slang  expressions  that  occur. 

I  would  remind  such  that  in  works  of 
this  kind  the  style  of  the  original  determines 
the  style  of  the  translation ;  and  that 
there  are  cases  in  which  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  give  an  equivalent  of  the 
original  without  resorting  to  slang.  It  is 
well  known  that  English  colloquial,  contains 
hundreds  of  slang  expressions,  which,  though 
frequently  heard  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench, 
in  the  pulpit,  and  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, are  not  found  in  books  which 
claim  to  be  written  in  standard  English.  It 
is  with  this  familiar  language  of  everyday 
life,  however,  so  much  of  which  is  found 
in  our  popular  English  novels,  that  the 
Japanese  student  needs  to  become  acquainted ; 
and  I  venture  to  think  that  the  employment 
of  it  to  describe  phases  of  life  with  which 
he  is  conversant,  will  be  of  no  small  assistanoe 


iv  PREFACE. 

to  him  when  studying  foreign  life.  Bearing 
this  in  mind,  I  have  invariably  endeavoured 
to  render  Japanese  colloquial  phrases, 
taken  as  a  whole,  into  their  corresponding 
English  ones. 

The  success  which  Mr.  Mitford's  well-known 
work  and  one  or  two  less  pretentious  efforts 
have  met  with,  seems  to  warrant  the  publishing 
of  another  book  on  the  same  lines.  The 
present  work,  while  intended  to  be  larger 
than  anything  of  the  kind  that  has  appeared, 
is  to  traverse  new  fields  and  to  contain 
entirely  new  matter.  It  is  hoped  therefore 
that  to  some  extent  it  may  prove  to  be  a 
complement  to  the  pictures  of  life  in  old 
Japan  w^hich  have  been  already  drawn. 

surugadai,  tok^, 

April  iotii.,   1887. 


JAPAN   IN    DAYS   OF   YORE. 

I. 

HUMAN  NATUEE  IN  A  YAEIETY 
^      OF    ASPECTS. 

CHAPTER    I. 

;N  the  time  of  Yoshimune,  the  eighth  Tokugawa 

Shogun,   there   were   in   Japan    a   large    number 

of   noted   government    officials,    but,    for    ability 

and  nobleness   of  nature,  there  was  no  one  worthy  of 

comparison  with    O-oka  Tadasuke,    Echizen-no-Kami. 

For  twenty   years  he  was   the  Bugyd^  or  Governor,  of 

Edo;  and  during  this  time,  agreeable  to  the  custom  of 

those  days,  he  had  to  pass  judgment  on  some  hundreds 

of  legal  cases.      Though,  of  course,  his  administration 

of  justice  was    not  altogether   free  from  the  faults  and 

abuses    that   disfigured  the    legal   proceedings    of   the 

age    in    which   he   lived,   yet,   in   comparison  with  the 

A 


2  HUMAN  NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

judges  who  were  his  predecessors  or  contemporaries,  he 
was  little  given  to  the  use  of  torture;  and  he  abstained 
from  various  other  of  the  mal-practices  of  the  courts 
of  that  day. 

The  nobleness  of  some  men's  natures  seems  to 
elevate  them  above  the  meannesses,  the  follies,  and 
the  cruelties  of  the  age  in  which  they  live.  Such  was 
eminently  the  case  with  0-oka  Tadasuke.  When  the 
technicalities  of  law  seemed  to  ascribe  guilt  to  in- 
dividuals, who,  to  his  discerning  eye  and  practised 
legal  judgment,  seemed  to  be  innocent,  he  had  a 
happy  way  of  ignoring  altogether,  or  of  bringing  for- 
ward some  plausible  substitute  for,  those  technicalities. 
Of  his  mqde  of  acting  on  these  occasions,  it  may 
doubtless  be  said  that,  it  destroyed  the  sanctity  of  law. 
But  to  this  it  may  be  replied  that,  when  the  observance 
of  the  sanctity  of  law  and  the  administration  of  strict 
justice  were  plainly  incompatible  with  each  other,  no 
one  possessing  such  fine  moral  instincts  as  those  with 
which  Tadasuke  was  endowed,  could  possibly  hesitate 
as  to  what  course  to  take.  Tadasuke  lived  in  an  age 
in  which  there  was  but  little  legal  criticism,  in  which 
the  nature  of  the  proceedings  of  Courts  of  Law 
depended  more  on  the  administrators  of  the  Code, 
than  on  the  character  of  the  Code  itself.  Few  but  the 
judges    themselves   knew   what   the    laws   were.     Mo3t 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  3 

of  the  cases  upon  which  Tadasuke  pronounced,  and 
where  his  mode  of  procedure  strikes  us  nowadays  as  so 
remarkably  shrewd  and  natural,  were  cases  of  which 
all  the  technicalities  of  precedence  did  not  form  a  part. 
They  were  entirely  new  and  extraordinary  in  charac- 
ter, such  as  had  never  occurred  before  and  were  likely 
never  to  occur  again.  His  mode,  or,  rather,  his  modes, 
for  he  never  confined  himself  to  any  one  in  particular, 
of  extracting  evidence  from  criminals  was  novel  in  the 
extreme,  and  such  as  could  only  be  adopted  by  a 
judge  endowed  with  extraordinary  original  genius. 
The  knowledge  of  human  nature,  the  fruitfulness  of 
resource,  the  indomitable  perseverance,  which  Tada- 
suke's  judgments  display  makes  the  O-oka  Meiyo  Set- 
daii^  one  of  the  most  charming,  as  well  as  the  most 
instructive,  books  that  have  issued  from  the  modern 
press.  From  this  work  we  have  extracted  the  matter 
contained    in   the   following  tale. 

Among  the  cases  which  were  brought  before  Tada- 
suke, those  of  Ten-ichibo,  Echigo  Denkichi,  Murai 
Choan,      Hikobei      the      Komamonoya\y     Kihachi     the 

*  The  0-oha  Meiyo  8eidan  contains  a  full  account  of  the  most  noted 
cases  tried  by  Tadasuke. 

t  A  Komamonoya  is  a  term  applied  to  the  man  who  sells,  or  the 
shop  at  which  articles  of  women's  toilet,  such  as  mirrors,  combs,  rouge,  tooth- 
brushes, powder,  etc.  are  sold. 


4  HUMAN   NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

Tobacconist,  and  the  one  we  are  now  about  to  relate, 
that  of  Goto  Hanshiro,    "^are  the  chief. 

Goto  Hanshiro,  though  the  son  of  a  poor  peasant, 
being  endowed  with  great  physical  strength  combined 
with  great  force  of  character,  and  being  propelled  by 
unusually  strong  virtuous  impulses  from  his  earliest 
days,  rose  to  rank  and  distinction.  He  was  created  some 
years  before  his  death  one  of  Yoshimune's  Hatamoto, 
His  life  was  spent  on  behalf  of  others  ;  and  he  there- 
fore stands  high  in  the  list  of  those  to  whom  heroic 
acts  are  entirely  unconstrained,  but  flow  out  fully  and 
freely  from  their  heroic  natures  like  water  from  a 
fountain.  There  is  a  verse  of  Japanese  poetry  which 
runs  thus : — 

**  Of  men  there  are  enough. 
**  A  man  there  is  not. 

**  Make  men  to  be  men : 
"  And  a  man  'ijou  will  be. 

**  Act  liht  a  man : 
**And  a  man  yon  will  become.'* 
With    the  sentiment  expressed    in  these  lines  giving 
a  colour   to   all   his   actions,  Hanshiro  passed  through 

*  An  account  of  Hikoboi's  case  will  be  found  in  the  Mombusho's  English 
Readers  (High  School  Series),  Book  II L,  under  the  title,  "The  Misfortunes 
Of  A  Small  Shop-Kecper  And  How  They  Endr '  "  Bk.  IV.  of  the  same 
Series  contains  a  history  of  Tcn-ichib{5,  under  the  title  of  *  A  Deep-laid  Plot 
And  How  It  Was  Discovered.'  Several  of  the  shorter  cases  given  in  the 
0-oJfca  Mti'^o  Seidan  are  reproduced  in  these  Readers  under  various  titles. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  5 

the  world,  and  left  his  record  behind  him  in  the  hearts 
of  those  whom  directly  or  indirectly  he  benefited. 
With  an  account  of  his  career,  we  propose  to  commence 
our  history  of  the  *'  Days  of  Yore." 

Goto  Hanshiro  was  born  in  Koya,  a  small  village 
situated  in  Sanuki,  near  the  castle-town  of  Marugame. 
His  father,  Hanzaemon,  was  the  owner  of  a  few  rice- 
fields,  by  the  cultivation  of  which  he  managed  to  earn 
a  comfortable  living.  Hanshiro  had  an  elder  brother 
called  Hansaku.  In  disposition  the  two  brothers  were 
the  opposite  of  each  other.  The  elder  one  was  quiet, 
retiring,  and  unambitious  ;  the  younger,  full  of  spirit, 
a  champion  among  the  boys  of  his  own  age,  that 
would  not  brook  an  insult  from  anyone,  fond  of  fun, 
mischievously  inclined,  but  with  this  propensity  well 
under  control.  Though  the  dispositions  of  the  two 
lads  differed  so  much,  they  were  nevertheless  very 
good  friends.  Affection  for  his  kith  and  kin  was  one 
of  Hanshiro 's  most  deeply  rooted  instincts.  No  son 
could  have  performed  his  home  duties  more  scrupu- 
lously or  more  earnestly  than  he,  arduous  as  some  of 
these  were  He  cut  wood,  drew  water,  dug  the 
ground,  went  messages,  and  executed  with  speed  and 
regularity  all  the  minor  tasks  that  devolve  on  the  sons 
of  poor  parents.  The  thorough  way  in  which  he  carried 
everything   through   that   he   took   in   hand,  made  him 


6  HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

a  favourite  in  the  village  of  Koya,  and  his  services 
for   day-labour   were   in   constant   demand. 

But  as  the  proverb  has  it : — '*  Even  he  that  is 
supposed  to  be  free  from  weaknesses  has  a  large 
number."  There  is  no  man  without  some  weakness 
or  propensity  that  may  lead  him  astray  at  any 
time.  '*  It  is  owing  to  their  propensities  that  men 
diverge  from  the  right  path,"  says  Confucius.  Han- 
shiro,  though  free  from  many  of  the  vices  of  youth, 
was  given  to  taking  more  sake"^  than  was  good  for 
him.  He  did  not  drink,  however,  to  the  extent  of  being 
unfit  for  work,  and  therefore  this  habit  did  not  pre- 
vent his  getting  employment  in  the  village.  But, 
like  all  other  weaknesses,  it  was  bound  sooner  or 
later  to  prove  a  cause  of  trouble,  being  calculated 
to  excite  the  brain  and  unfit  him  who  was  subject 
to  it  for  the  cool,  circumspect  action  which  certain 
occasions  and  situations  render  necessary.  How  this 
came  about,  we  are  now  about  to  relate. 

Among  Hanshiro's  relations,  there  was  a  man  called 
— Sajiemon.  Sajiemon  was  a  well-tQ-do  farmer,  in 
the  receipt  of  an  income  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  koku  a  year.  It  happened  that  when  HanshirO 
was   about  thirteen   years  of  age,  Sajiemon  had   occa- 

*  A  term  applied  to  any  kind  of  fermented  liquor. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  7 

sion  to  send  fifty  ryo,  in  those  days  rather  a  large 
sum  of  money,  to  a  friend  in  Matsuyama,  lyo.  Saji- 
emon  thought  that,  rather  than  employ  a  stranger,  it 
would  be  better  to  send  Hanshiro  with  the  money. 
''  For,  though  he  is  young,"  said  he  to  himself,  '*  he 
is   honest   and   brave/' 

It  was  a  winter  afternoon,  about  three  o'clock,  when 
Hanshiro  received  this  commission.  With  his  usual 
despatch,  he  went  home  and  hurriedly  made  his  pre- 
parations for  starting  at  once.  His  parents,  on  learning 
the  nature  of  the  business  on  which  he  was  going, 
were  very  much  opposed  to  his  setting  out  with  such 
a  large  sum  of  money  within  an  hour  of  sunset 
But  his  youthful  intrepidity  made  him  scorn  their 
advice  as  the  over-carefulness  of  affectionate  parents. 
'^  If  I  meet  a  robber  on  the  way,  so  much  the 
worse  for  the  robber,"  said  he.  **  I  will  soon  make 
an  end  of  him."  And  off  he  went,  full  of  spirit 
and  daring,  eager  to  encounter  the  dangers  of  the 
road. 

Long  before  he  reached  Matsuno-o,  it  was  quite 
dark.  On  his  arrival  at  that  place,  between  eight  and 
nine  o'clock,  he  felt  very  hungry ;  and,  as  he  pur- 
posed travelling  on  through  the  night,  and  the  road 
that  lay  immediately  before  him  was  very  moun- 
tainous,  he  thought  he  had  better  make  a  good  meal 


8  HUMAN  NATURE   IN  A    VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

there.  Going,  therefore,  to  a  small  wayside-inn, 
he  ordered  a  quart  of  hot  sake^  and  told  the 
inn-keeper  to  get  ready  the  best  meal  he  could  for 
him. 

The  food  was  poor  ;  but  to  a  hungry  man  nothing 
comes  amiss.  So  Hanshiro  soon  demolished  what 
was  set  before  him,  and  astonished  the  inn-keeper 
by   ordering   another   quart   of  sake, 

"  Well,  to  be  sure  !  You  do  drink  ! "  exclaimed  the 
inn-keeper.  **  Two  quarts  of  sake^  for  such  a  young 
fellow  is  not  bad,  I  must  say !  What  makes  you 
drink   so   much  V^ 

*' Well,"  replied  Hanshiro,  **the  road  ahead  is 
pretty  stiff,  so  I  need  to  fortify  myself  against  it. 
The  amount  of  sake  I  have  taken  is  not  more  than 
I   shall   work   off  in    climbing   these   hills." 

Just  as  Hanshiro  was  drinking  the  sake^  some  five 
or  six  palanquin  bearers  came  rushing  into  the  inn. 
**  Halloo,  there  !  Mr.  Inn-keeper !  have  you  shut  up 
shop } "  shouted  one  of  the  bearers.  *'  Am  sorry  to 
trouble   you,    but  just  hand  us  some    sakcy    will    you." 

Here  the  bearers  were  supplied  with  sake.  While 
they  w^-ere  drinking  it,  Hanshiro  took  out  his  purse 
to  pay  his  account,  and,  with  the  thoughtlessness  and 
carelessness  of  youth,  his  head,  moreover,  being  some- 
what   muddled    by    the   liquor   he    had    consumed,    he 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  ,g 

revealed  to  the  bystanders,  who  were  watching  him 
narrowly,  that  he  had  a  purse  full  of  money.  Instead 
of  keeping  the  money  he  was  to  spend  on  his  journey 
in  a  separate  purse,  he  seems  to  have  had  it  and 
Sajiemon's  money  all  in  one  purse,  which,  by  its 
length,  shewed  that  it  contained  a  large  number  of 
gold  and  silver  coins.  While  Hanshiro  was  paying 
his  account,  two  of  the  bearers  were  seen  to  whisper 
to  each  other,  and,  presently,  one  of  them,  addressing 
Hanshiro,  inquired: — ''Ay,  young  chap!  where  may 
be   you    off  for  ?" 

Without  any  suspicion,  HanshirO  replied  : — '*  I  am 
going  as  far  as  Matsuyama,  and  purpose  travelling 
through  the    night." 

**  It  is  very  dangerous  journeying  at  night,  as  you 
propose  doing,"  replied  one  of  the  bearers;  ''had  you 
not  better  hire  a  palanquin  ?  Though  it  is  rude  of 
me  to  say  it,  you  seem,  too,  to  have  a  great  deal  of 
money  with  you,  and,  young  as  you  are,  surely  it 
is   not   safe   for   you   to   travel   alone." 

*'  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  concern  yourself  ro 
much  about  me,"  rejoined  Hanshiro,  but,  to  tell  you 
the  truth,  I  dislike  palanquins,  and  being  naturally 
a  good  pedestrian,  that  thinks  nothing  of  doing  his 
thirty   or   forty   miles   a   day,    I   prefer   to   walk." 


10       HUMAN   NATURE  IN   A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

Thus  saying,  HanshirO  tightened  his  sandals  and 
was  preparing  to  start,  when  the  bearers,  in  a  body, 
sprung  up  and  began  to  urge  him  vehemently  to 
ride  in  their  palanquin.  '*  Come !  ride,"  said  one  of 
them.  *'  There  never  was  such  a  thing  heard  of  as  a 
lad  so  young  as  you,  walking  in  the  mountains  at 
this   time   of  night." 

*'If  you  won't  ride"  said  another,  '*then,  treat  us 
to   some   sakcT 

'*  It  may  be  this  young  fellow  is  a  thief  who  has 
stolen  his  master's  money,  and  that  he  is  now  trying 
to  run  away  with  it,"  remarked  a  third. 

Hanshiro  saw  that  things  were  beginning  to  look 
very  ugly.  But  he  determined,  before  having  a  fight 
with  the  men,  to  try  what  gentler  means  would  do. 
So  he  quietly  replied  to  the  charge  of  having  stolen 
the  money  by  informing  the  coolies  who  he  was  and 
by  explaining  to  them  how  such  a  large  sum  of  money 
came   to   be    entrusted    to   him. 

*' Very  well;"  said  one  of  the  bearers,  ''that  may 
be  all  correct.  But  we  want  some  money,  so  be 
quick  and  give  it  to  us." 

Hanshiro  saw  that  further  reasoning  was  useless 
and,  feeling  that  he  was  no  match  for  such  a  number 
as  confronted  him,  he  thought  it  best  to  run  away. 
So,     tying     the    money     tight     round    his     waist,     in 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  II 

an  instant  he  made  an  opening  in  the  circle  of 
bearers  who  surrounded  him,  and  was  about  to 
set  off,  when  one  of  the  men  stretched  out  his  hand, 
and,  seizing  him  by  the  clothes,  said  : — '*  Do  you 
think  you  are  going  to  escape  like  that  ?  Not  a  bit 
of  it !" 

The  bearers  now  closed  in  around  Hanshiro,  and 
one   of  them   tried   to   seize   his    purse. 

The  lad  saw  that  it  was  no  use  .  mincing  matters 
any  longer,  so,  snatching  up  one  of  the  forms 
belonging  to  the  inn,  he  commenced  to  defend 
himself  against  his  assailants  in  right  earnest.  They 
rushed  on  him  pell-mell  ;  but  he  was  a  powerful 
young  fellow,  and  he  wielded  the  form  with  agility  and 
skill  that  astonished  the  coolies.  One  after  another, 
with  bruised  limbs  or  broken  crowns,  they  skulked 
awa}^,    until    HanshirO    was   left   alone   in   the   inn. 

*'  Better  I  had  taken  the  advice  of  my  folks  and 
waited  till  the  morning,  instead  of  running  the  risk 
of  losing  the  money  in  this  way, "  he  muttered  to 
himself  **  But,  however,  *  in  for  a  penny  in  for  a 
pound,'  as  the  saying  is.  *  When  once  on  a  tiger's 
back,  there  must  be  no  getting  off.' — Dangers  sur- 
round me,  but,  encounter  them,  I  will,  yes,  and 
surmount  them,  I  shall,  unless  I  am  very  much 
mistaken."     Thus   saying,   he   hurried    on   his   way. 


12        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

Nothing  of  importance  occurred  to  him  till  he 
reached  a  forest  of  pines,  situated  at  some  distance 
from  the  scene  of  the  affray  just  described.  Here 
the  coolies  all  made  their  appearance  again,  attended 
by  some  dozen  associates.  Springing  out  on 
Hanshiro  suddenly,  they  accosted  him  as  follows  : — 
**  Aha  !  you  small  boy !  you  are  he  who  attacked 
us  at  the  inn,  eh  ?  We  are  come  to  take  your 
life,  your  clothes,  and  your  money,  by  way  of 
retaliation." 

**  Heavens!  here's  an  affair!''  exclaimed  Hanshiro. 
*'  Now  they  will  make  an  end  of  me  !  Anyhow,  I 
will  die  hard  !  "  So  saying,  he  put  his  back  against 
a  pine  tree  ;  and,  though  he  had  no  weapon  in 
his  hand,  hoping  to  get  hold  of  one  in  the  first 
encounter,  in  a  defiant  tone,  he  shouted  : — *'  Come  on  !" 

**  Let  us  kill  him  at  once  before  anyone  arrives  to 
assist  him,"  said  one  of  the  coolies.  And,  thereupon, 
rushing  at  Hanshiro,  with  a  palanquin  bearing-pole 
he   dealt   a   heavy   blow   at   his   head. 

Hanshiro,  as  quick  as  lightning,  avoided  the  stroke; 
and,  in  an  instant,  adroitly  seizing  the  pole, 
thrust  it  into  the  side  of  his  assailant.  The  man's 
breath  was  taken  away  by  the  thrust,  and,  reeling 
over,  he  fell  to  the  ground  as  though  he  were 
dead.       Assailant     after     assailant,     Hanshiro     either 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  '       1 3 

knocked  clown  with  his  pole,  seized  and  sent  flying 
through  the  air,  or  dashed  against  the  trees.  Thus 
he  held  out  against  his  foes  for  some  time,  but,  as 
ill-luck  would  have  it,  the  staff  that  he  had  been 
using   so   vigorously   suddenly   broke   in   two. 

**Now  it  is  all  up  with  me,"  thought  the  lad.  But 
wdth  that  persistent  clinging  to  life,  and  that  ten- 
dency to  hope  even  when  there  seems  nothing  to  hope 
for,  which  is  so  prominent  a  characteristic  of  heroic 
souls,  and  wdiich  so  often  insures  the  realization  of 
their  wishes,  Hanshiro  determined  not  to  givo.  up 
as  long  as  there  was  a  chance  of  escape.  Weapon- 
less as  he  was,  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  run 
away.  He  set  off  as  fast  as  his  legs  would  carry 
liim,  and  kept  well  ahead  of  his  foes  for  some  five 
or  six  c/i<o/'  wdien  he  arrived  at  a  place  where  the 
roid  divided  into  two  parts.  Hoping  to  elude  his 
pursuers  by  so  doing,  he  took  the  less  frequented 
of  the  two  roads,  and  was  still  m.aking  rapid  progress 
when,  suddenly,  he  w^as  confronted  by  some  seven 
or  eight  men,  w^ho  had  been  placed  in  ambush  here 
to  intercept  him  in  case  he  attempted  to  escape.  See- 
ing that  further  flight  was  impossible,  he  seized  one 
of    the     small     trees     that     grew     by     the     road-side 


358  Eng.  feet,  or  ^  stat.  mile. 


14        HUMAN   NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

and  commenced  to  defend  himself  against  his  ne\\r 
assailants.  But  he  had  been  running,  and  he  found 
his  strength  failing.  In  the  act  of  aiming  a  blow 
at  his  foes,  suddenly  his  foot  slipped,  and  he  fell  to 
the  ground. 

The  robbers,  for  such  they  were,  (though,  according 
to  the  custom  of  those  days,  they  acted  as  palanquin 
bearers  to  enable  them  to  rob  with  greater  facility)^ 
seeing  this,  commenced  their  attack  afresh,  and  njade 
sure   of  killing   the   lad   there    and   then. 

I-Ianshir5  now  set  up  a  cry  of  despair  ^' Mttrder  t 
vmi'dcj'!''   shouted    the    lad. 

But  how  useless  did  such  a  cry  seem  !  What  answer 
could  be  expected  but  the  repetition,  and  hence  the 
intensification,  of  its  sad  accents  in  the  form  of  the 
echoes  of  the  wood  ?  At  such  an  hour  of  night,  in 
such  a  place, 'what  likelihood  was  there  of  any  but 
Heaven   hearing   the   cry   of  distress  ? 

But  wonderful  to  relate,  human  ears  heard  that 
voice,  and  human  help  hastened  to  the  spot  from 
whence  it  proceeded.  Suddenly  there  sprung  out 
from  the  forest  a  powerful  man,  arrayed  m  the 
garb    of  a   warrior-pilgrim. 

*'Away  with  you!  away  witli  you!  you  greed- 
loving   scoundrels  !  '*   shouted   the   man.      *'  Life  is   too 


JAPAN   IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  1 5 

precious  to  allow  it  to  be  taken  in  this  fashion.  Cheer 
tip,   young   fellow,    I   will   rescue  you.'* 

Here  the  champion,  springing  into  the  midst  of  the 
robbers,  with  a  huge  iron  bar,  such  as  were  used 
in  those  days  by  warriors  of  great  strength  and  skill,*^ 
In  whose  hands  they  proved  the  most  formidable  of 
weapons,  commenced  to  knock  them  about  as 
though  they  were  nine-pin?.  Flourishing  the  bar 
right  and  left,  in  a  f;^w  minutes  he  had  worked  such 
terrible  havoc  among  them,  that  he  and  the  lad  were 
surrounded    by    their   disabled    foes. 

The  man  who  had  come  to  the  rescue  of  Han- 
shiro  was  a  MuslLa-sJiugydja,^  or  warrior-pilgrim,  who 
happened  to  be  passing  through  the  forest  in  search 
of  adventure    at   the   time. 

The  warrior-pilgrim,  after  the  affray  was  over,  looked 
round  to  see  what  had  become  of  Hanshiro.  He 
found   that   the   lad   had   fainted,    and   was  lying  close 

*  The  weight  of  some  of  these  iron  bars  was  prodigious.  They  were  often 
rendered  more  formidable  by  being  knotted  or  .«^haped,  fo  as  to  inflict  greater 
injury  on  the  person  attacked.  Ilideyoshi  nearly  lost  his  life  by  means  of  one 
of  these  when  on  his  way  to  Kyoto  to  avenge  the  death  of  Nobuna^a. 

t  A  Musha-sJiugyoja  was  a  person  who,  from  religions  motives,  or 
with  the  object  of  perfecting  himself  in  warlike  attainments,  travelled 
roimd  the  country  as  a  v/arrior-pilgrim.  The  men  who  lecf  this  life 
were  usually  of  good  families.  The  time  of  their  pilgrimage  differed 
considerably.  It  was  seldom  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Miyamoto  Musashi, 
the  pilgrimage  was  kept  up  for  life.  For  a  short  account  of  this  hero, 
vide  English  Readers,    (High  School  Series),    Bk.  III.,   p.  178.  et  seq. 


l6        HUMAN   NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF   ASPECTS. 

to   the   spot   where   he  had  fallen.     Speedily  the  good  ^ 
man   fetched   water   and    applied    restoratives,    and   in 
a  few   minutes    Hanshiro    revived. 

HanshirO,  after  thanking  his  benefactor  for  the  help 
he  had  given,  related  to  him  the  whole  history  of 
the  previous  night's  incidents  and  the  events  that 
liad  led  to  them.  On  hearing  which,  the  warrior- 
pilgrim  said  to  Hanshiro  : —  *'  I  watched  you  as  you 
withstood  those  villains  that  assailed  you.  Though 
a  farmer's  son,  you  are  no  ordinary  lad.  Your  ex- 
ploits  to-night   astounded    me    beyond    measure." 

The  speaker,  on  being  asked  who  he  was,  said  ; — 
''  I  am  Goto  Gozaemon  Hidemori,  from  Funai,  Bungo, 
I  practise  a  style  of  fencing  known  as  the  Miitdryu, 
or  **  Swordless-stylc,"  you  need  not  fear,  there- 
fore, any  further  trouble  from  these  robbers.  As  the 
listance  to  Matsuyama  is  still  something  considerable, 
iiowever,  I  will  see  that  you  reach  that  place  m 
safety. 

To  this  proposal  HanshirO  gladly  consented,  and 
they  set  out  for  Matsuyama.  From  conversation  held 
on  the  road  Hidemori  learnt  that  Hanshiro  was 
highly  esteemed  by  his  parents  and  elder  brother, 
and,  having  had  abundant  proof  of  his  valour,  he 
thought  to  himself: — "How  would  it  be  to  make 
this   lad   my   heir   and   teach   him  the  style  of  fencing 


JAPAN  IN   DAYS   OF  YORE.  17 

which  I  have  adopted  ?  Such  a  successor  would 
never  bring  reproach  on  my  name.  In  instructing 
such  a  daring  young  fellow  I  shall  be  but  '  giving 
wings  to  the  tiger,'  as  it  were,  that  is,  I  shall  be 
making   one  who  is  already  formidable  still  more  so." 

On  Hidemori's  making  known  his  thoughts  to 
Hanshiro,  the  latter  fell  in  with  the  plan.  So,  after 
delivering  the  money  to  the  person  for  whom  it  was 
destined,  Hidemori  and  the  lad  returned  to  the  village 
of  KOya  to  solicit  the  consent  of  HanshirO's  parents 
to   the   proposed   plan. 

Hanshiro 's  father  listened  with  astonishment  and 
admiration  to  Hidemori  as  he  narrated  to  him 
Hanshiro 's  exploits.  Though  loath  to  part  with  so 
brave  and  noble  a  lad,  he  felt  he  could  not  well 
refuse  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the  man  but 
for  whom  his  son  would  have  been  numbered  with 
the   dead. 

Hidemori  now  set  up  a  fencing  school  in  the 
precincts  of  Marugame  castle,  about  eight  miles 
from  Hanshiro 's  home.  This  Hanshiro  found  very 
convenient,  as  it  enabled  him  while  living  with  his 
adopted  parent  to  visit  his  real  parents  and  elder 
brother   whenever   he   wished. 

From  morning  to  night,  Flanshiro  practised  the 
Mu'to  Style,  until  he  became  extremely  proficient  in  it, 


1 8        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

when  Hidcmori  made  him  his  successor  in  the  fencing- 
school  and  gave  him  the  name  of  Goto  Hidekuni. 

When   this   had   been  effected,   Hidemori    started  off 
on   another  pilgrimage,  taking  an    eastward  direction. 


CHAPTER    II. 

lANSHIRO  kept  up  the  fencing  school  in 
Marugame  for  three  years  with  great  success. 
Month  by  month  his  fame  rose  higher  and 
higher.  The  money  which  he  received  as  fees,  he 
either  gave  to  his  parents  or  to  the  poor,  keeping 
only  enough  to  maintain  himself 

At  the  end  of  three  years,  it  happened  that  the 
daily  routine  of  the  fencing-master*s  life  was  in- 
terrupted one  day  by  an  occurrence,  which,  however 
common-place  now-a-days,  was  in  those  times  a  great 
event — a  letter  arrive^.  The  messenger  who  brought 
it  said  that  he  had  come  from  a  very  distant  part 
of  the  country.  The  letter  proved  to  be  from 
Hidemori,  who  was  at  that  time  in  Omama,  Kotsuke, 
a  place  over  four  hundred  miles  distant  from  Marugame- 


JAPAN   IN   DAYS   OF  YORE.  I9 

On  opening  the  letter,  Hanshiro  found  that  his 
adopted  father  was  dangerously  ill  and  desired  to  see 
him  as  soon  as  possible.  So,  entrusting  his  pupils  to 
the  care  of  a  friend,  he  set  out  for  Omama,  and 
travelled  as  rapidly  as  it  was  possible  in  those  days 
to  do.  Great  was  his  disappointment  on  arrival  to 
find  that  Hidemori  had  died  some  days  previously. 

After  settling  his  father's  affairs  Hanshiro  started 
for  Marugame  again,  with  the  intention,  however,  of 
seeing   Edo    on   his   way   home. 

On  the  outskirts  of  Kumagaya,  there  were  at  the 
time  of  which  we  write,  as  now,  numerous  small 
taverns  at  which,  for  a  few  cash,  travellers  could 
obtain   a   meal    and    a    cup   or   two   of  sake. 

Late  one  winter  afternoon,  there  arrived  at  one  of 
these  taverns  an  extremely  well-dressed  and  refined 
looking  married  couple.  Their  costume,  general  ap- 
pearance, and  whole  demeanour  indicated  that  they 
were  unaccustomed  to  travel.  The  man  looked  as 
though  he  had  been  brought  up  m  ease  and  luxury. 
Though  his  face  shewed  that  he  was  of  a  good 
family,  and  his  equipments  were  those  of  a  high  class 
knight,  his  limbs  lacked  the  muscle  and  the  develop- 
ment which  inurement  to  the  hardships  of  a  warrior's 
life    is    calculated    to    produce. 

His  wife's  delicate  frame    and    refined    ladylike  man- 


20        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

ncrs  showed  that  she  too  was  little  cut  out  for 
enduring  the  toils  and  privations  which  travelling  in 
those  days  necessarily  involved.  They  both  seemed 
very  tired  when  they  reached  the  little  tavern. 
After  taking  their  meal,  they  were  about  to  continue 
their  journey,  when  the  inn-keeper,  seeing  that  they 
were  inexperienced  travellers,  thought  it  would  be 
only  kind  to  enquire  where  they  were  going  at  such 
a  late  hour  in  the  afternoon.  To  this  query,  the 
samuraiy*  for  such  he  was,  replied  : —  '*  We  are  on 
our  way  to  Edo  and  wish  to  reach  Konosu  to- 
night.    How   far  may  it  be   to  that  place  ? " 

"  People  say  that  it  is  only  twelve  miles  from 
here,"  replied  the  inn-keeper  ;  **  but  in  reality  it  is 
more.  It  is  now  after  four  o'clock,  and  the  road 
between  this  and  Konosu  lies  along  an  embankment 
that  is  infested  with  robbers.  Excuse  me  for  making 
the  remark,  but  your  august  partner  does  not  look 
as  though  she  could  bear  such  a  long  journey  after 
the  fatigues  of  the  road  you  have  already  traversed. 
I  would  strongly  advise  you  to  put  up  here  for  the 
night." 

*  A  general  name  for  all  persons  \vho  were  privileged  to  wear  two 
swords,  from  the  Sbcgim  and  Daimyo  down  to  the  lowest  grade.  Knight 
is  pohaps  the  nearest  English  approach  to  the  meaning  of  the  term, 
though  in  iomo  respects  somewhat  misleading. 


JAPAN   IN   DAYS   OF   YORE.  21 

Just  at  this  point,  five  or  six  palanquin-bearers  came 
rushing  into  the  tavern.  And,  after  taking  a  glance 
at  the  married  couple  and  asking  in  what  direction 
they  were  going,  one  of  them,  addressing  the  sa- 
murai, said  : — **  We  are  on  our  way  home  and  can 
take   you    cheap,  sir,  please   hire    our   palanquins.'* 

**  No,"  replied  the  samurai,  *'  as  it  seems  to  be 
some  distance  to  Konosu,  and  travelling,  I  hear,  is 
not  very  safe  just  now,  I  think  we  had  better  put 
up   here   for   the   night." 

**  What  is  the  gentleman  saying  ?  He  is  no  doubt 
a  stranger  to  these  parts,"  rejoined  one  of  the  bearers. 
**  The  inn-keeper  has  evidently  been  trying  to  persuade 
him  to  put  up  here  for  the  night.  Of  course  it  is  to 
the  interest  of  an  inn-keeper  to  do  so.  It  is  said  to 
be  twelve  miles  from  here  to  Konosu,  but  in  reality 
it  is  not  more  than  seven.  We  will  take  you  for 
three  sen,'^  sir.  If  we  go  quickly,  I  have  no  doubt 
the  gentleman  will  not  object  to  give  us  a  drink  at 
the  end   of  the  journey.     This  is  all   we   shall   ask." 

The  inn-keeper  knew  that  the  men  were  highway- 
robbers  in  disguise  ;  but  it  was  as  much  as  his  life 
was  worth  to  interfere.  So  he  held  his  tongue  ;  and 
the  married   couple,  being  unacquainted  with  the  ways 

*  This  would  be  the  equivalent  of  about  thirty  cents  now-a-days. 


22        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

of  the  world,  and  novices  in  travelling,  were  deceived 
by  the  plausible  speech  of  the  men,  and,  entering 
their    palanquins,    set    out   for    Konosu. 

*'  Ah  ! "  exclaimed  the  inn-keeper  to  his  servant 
Yasuke  alter  they  had  started,  *'  such  people  are  to 
be  pitied.  Anyone  as  ignorant  of  the  w^orld  as  they 
are,  ought  not  to  travel  at  such  times  as  these.  There 
they  are  in  the  hands  of  robbers  !  I  would  have 
said  something,  but  did  not  dare.  Ill-luck  take  it! — 
We'll  do  no  more  selling  to-day,  lad.  There  is  no 
knowing  how  many  more  of  these  scoundrels  may 
turn  up.  Up  with  the  shutters,  boy,  as  sharp  as  you 
can,    and    bolt   the    door." 

Yasuke  hastened  to  obey  these  orders  ;  and  had 
nearly  finished  the  closing  in,  when  a  huge  man, 
wearing  two  swords,  and  carrying  a  large  iron  bar, 
made   his   appearance. 

**  Master  is  right,"  said  the  lad  to  himself.  **  We 
have  not  seen  the  last  of  the  robbers  yet.  Here  is 
a    man    who    looks    to    be    their    chief" 

While  Yasuke  was  thinking  of  how  best  to  get 
rid  of  the  new  visitor,  *'  Here,  here,  boy !  hand 
me  a  cup  of  sa^^e,  will  you,"  shouted  the  traveller ; 
*'  and  get  ready  some  fish.  Goodness  me  !  how 
short  the  days  are  growing  !  "  And,  on  the  lad  delay- 
ing    to    bring     the   sairf    he    added  : — ^*  '  During    the 


JAPAN   IN   DAYS   OF   YORE.  23 

month  of  November  employ  no  one  who  has  not  his 
wits  about  him' — a  true  saying  enough  that — come, 
boy  !    look    sharp  !     What    are    you    up   to   there  ? " 

Yasuke  ey^^d  the  stranger  from  head  to  foot. 
He  had  never  seen  anyone  who  looked  so  formid- 
able before.  His  limbs  were  all  of  unusual  size  ;  his 
eyes  gleamed  with  fire  ;  his  hair  had  been  allowed 
to  grow  long  in  the  centre  of  the  head,  where  in 
those  days  it  was  usually  shaven  close  to  the  skin, 
and  hung  in  a  disshevelled  careless  fashion,  adding 
considerably  to  the  general  fierce  appearance  of  the 
man   to   whom   it   belonged. 

*'  This  fellow  is  no  doubt  the  head  of  the  gang  of 
robbers  who  have  just  left  us,"  thought  Yasuke. 
Bowing  low  to  the  ground  in  a  most  respectful 
manner,  but  with  a  tremulous  voice,  he  accosted  the 
r^  stranger  as  follows  : — '*  I  am  extremely  sorry,  sir,  that 
you  should  have  had  the  trouble  to  come  here  for 
nothing,    but   we    have    neither    fish    nor    sake   left." 

**  Well,  well  !  what  a  place  to  be  sure  !  "  exclaimed 
the  traveller,  *'  you  have  rice  I  suppose,  I  will  take 
some    rice." 

*'  I  am  sorry  to  say  we  have  no  rice  ready," 
replied    the    lad, 

**  Well,  then  I  will  put  up  for  the  night  here.  I 
see    you    have    a    notice    outside    to    say   that   you    put 


24        HUiMAN   NATURE   IN   A    VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

people   up.     Boil   some  rice  as    soon  as  you    can,    will 
you." 

Thus  saying,  the  stranger  was  about  to  take  off 
his  sandals  and  go  up  on  the  mats,  when,  again 
bowing  to  the  ground,  Yasuke  said  : — ''  It  is  most 
unfortunate,  sir,  but  to-night  there  is  a  meeting  to 
be  held  in  this  house,  and  all  the  rooms  will  be 
occupied,  so  we  are  not  able  to  put  anyone  up 
to-night." 

^'  The  Devil  take  you  !  "  said  the  stranger,  looking 
fiercely  at  the  lad,  '*  Who  are  you }  Are  you  a 
servant  or  the  landlord  of  this  house }  You  are 
telling  me  lies,  you  rascal  ! — why,  here  is  fish  in  the 
tub — and  here  is  sake  too.  Do  you  think  by  my 
appearance    that    I    am    a    robber  }  ** 

The  stranger  now  went  and  helped  himself  to  some 
sake,  and,  taking  out  a  quantity  of  money  from 
his  purse,  said  : — ''  Here,  look  at  this  !  I  can  pay 
for  any  amount  of  things.  You  are  surely  not  as 
stupid  as  to  think  that  I  am  one  that  would  take 
things  by  main  force  and  run  away  without  paying 
for    them.?" 

Instead  of  removing  Yasuke's  doubts,  these  remarks 
only  tended  to  confirm  them.  **  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  fellow  has  stolen  that  money,"  said  he  to 
himself.       ''  No    ordinary    traveller    would    carry   about 


JAPAN   IN   DAYS   OF   YORE.  2$ 

SO  much  money.  I  must  get  rid  of  him  somehow  or 
other." 

*'  It  is  true,  sir,  that,  as  you  say,  there  is  fish 
and  sake  here,  but  it  is  in  readiness  for  the  guests  who 
are  to   assemble    in    this  house  to-night,"  said  the  lad. 

''  What,  lying  again  ?  "  rejoined  the  stranger.  *'  I  will 
knock  you  down."  Here  he  clenched  his  fist  and 
raised  his  hand,   as  if  about  to  strike. 

Whereupon,  Yasuke,  thinking  that,  ''  discretion  was 
the  better  part  of  valour,"  and  that,  as  things  were 
beginning  to  look  very  serious,  the  sooner  he  was 
out  of  the  reach  of  this  giant's  fist  the  better, 
scampered   away  into   the   next  room. 

The  inn-keeper, — Hachigoro,  had  heard  all  that  was 
going  on  and  now  thought  it  high  time  to  interfere. 

*^  I  am  afraid,"  said  Hachigor5,  bowing  low  to  the 
ground,  *'  that  my  servant  has  been  very  rude  to 
you.  He  is  a  stupid  fellow.  We  have  both  fish 
and  sake  in  the  house,  so  please  take  as  much  as 
you  like  of  both  ;  and  if  there  is  anything  else  you 
wish    for,    please    order    it." 

*^  Come,  come  !  "  replied  the  stranger  '*  you  need  not 
make  so  many  apologies.  I  was  in  the  wrong.  I 
had  no  business  to  take  sake  without  leave.  My 
wearing  two  swords  and  carrying  this  iron  bar,  my 
size    and    general    appearance,    may    make    me    look 


26        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

something  like  a  robber.  But  it  is  hard  on  account 
of  one's   appearance   to  be   taken   for   a  robber." 

**  Of  course  it  is,"  replied  the  inn-keeper.  ''  Though 
I  do  not  mean  anything  personal,  people  are  not 
to  be  judged  by  appearances.  Even  Kanshin,  who 
afterwards  became  so  great,  was  seen  receiving  a 
little  rice  from  an  old  woman  who  was  washing 
clothes.  And,  subsequently,  the  same  man  did  not 
mind  creeping  beneath  the  legs  of  vulgar  rustics. 
You  too,  though  your  outward  appearance  may  be 
against  you,  are  a  man  the  lustre  of  whose  heart 
is  unsullied.  Like  the  lotus  in  the  mud,  you  are 
undefiled   by  your  surroundings." 

**  Well,  well  !  now  you  are  overrunning  the  mark  !  " 
rejoined  the  traveller.  *'  There  is  no  need  for  praising 
me  after  this  fashion.  You  are  a  rare  man  though. 
It  is  not  often  that  one  finds  a  countryman  who  knows 
anything  about  the  great  men  of  China." 

**  Excuse  me  for  being  so  rude  as  to  say  so,  but 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,"  remarked  the  inn-keeper  *'the 
gentleman  comes  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Sanuki." 

*'  There  you  are  right,"  replied  the  stranger.  *'  But 
how  did  you  find  it  out  ?  " 

'*  By  your  language,  of  course,"  said  the  inn- 
keeper. 

''  Well,    you    are    a   sharp   man,"  rejoined   Hanshiro. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  2/ 

**  Yes,  I  hail  from  that  part,  and  am  no  other  than 
Goto  Hanshiro,  instructor  in  a  style  of  fencing 
known  as  the  Mu-td-?yuy 

^*  Ah  !  "  exclaimed  the  landlord,  *^  many  a  time 
have  I  heard  of  you.  Goto  Hidemori  was  well  known 
in  this  town  ;  often  has  he  been  here  teaching  ;  and 
many  a  time  has  he  put  up  in  this  very  house.  He 
frequently  spoke  of  his  adopted  son,  who,  he  said,  was 
a  most  skilful  fencer.  And  now  I  have  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  the  said  son  before  me.  This  is  interesting, 
indeed."  Here  the  two  men  commenced  to  converse 
together  at  a  great  rate,  Hanshiro  giving  a  history 
of  the  whole   of  his  past  life. 

At  the  close  of  the  conversation,  the  inn-keeper 
remarked  : — ^*  I  only  wish  you  had  reached  my  house 
a  lit;tle  earlier.  A  distressing  thing  happened  here 
just  now." 

The  landlord  now  related  what  had  occurred.  On 
hearing  which,  Hanshiro  exclaimed  : — ^'  I  will  go  and 
rescue  these  travellers."  And  forthwith,  springing  up, 
he  prepared  to  set  out. 

'^  It  is  no  use.     It  is  too  late,"  said  the  inn-keeper. 

'*  Even  if  it  is  too  late,"  replied  Hanshiro,  '*  I 
will  go  and  meet  the  scoundrels  on  their  way  back 
with  the  spoil,  and  will  cut  them  to  pieces  and  restore 
the    money    and    the    stolen    goods    to    their    former 


28        HUMAN   NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

owners.  I  am  just  the  man  for  such  a  time  as  this  : 
I  have  no  one  dependent  on  me  ;  I  am  fond  of 
fighting  ;  I  am  strong  and  fearless.  Where  the  weak 
are  oppressed,  thither  does  Hanshiro  delight  to  go. 
'  To  see  the  right  thing  to  be  done  and  not  to  do  it, 
this  is  cowardice.'  Away  I  go  to  look  into  this  affair. 
If  my  search  prove  fruitless,  never  mind  ;  at  any  rate 
I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  I  have 
done  my  best."  Then,  after  a  pause  he  continued  : — 
**  As  the  travellers  may  be  wounded,  do  you  get  a 
doctor  and  wait  here  till  I  come  back.  Here,  please 
take  charge  of  my  money  till  my  return  :  I  shall 
not  need  it." 

The  troubles  of  the  two  travellers  are  soon  told. 
Unsuspicious,  they  were  conveyed  to  a  lonely  spot 
situated  about  half  way  between  Kumagaya  and 
KOnosu,  where  there  stood  at  this  time  a  small 
shed,  which  contained  a  Buddhist  idol.  Here  the 
palanquins  were  lowered,  and  the  bearers,  surrounding 
them,  said  to  each  other  : — ''  Come  !  we  have  gone 
fafc^nough.  Here  we  will  take  our  ease.  Reckoning 
the  value  of  their  clothes,  we  have  a  prize  wort]) 
quite  a  hundred  ryoy  so  we'll  have  a  jolly  time  of  it." 

The  samurai  heard  this,  and  said  to  himself : — 
'*  A  pretty  trap  we  have  fallen  into  !  Well,  it  is 
fight    or    die — and    so,    little   as    I    know   how,  to    save 


JAPAN   IN   DAYS   OF  YORE.  29 

my  wife  from  disgrace   and   myself  from   d^dith.— fight 

I  wiiir 

One  of  the  bearers  now  came  forward  and  said  : — 
*^  I  may  as  well  tell  you  at  once  that  we  have  brought 
you  to  this  place  for  the  sake  of  robbing  you,  and 
therefore  you  had  better  make  up  your  mind  to 
deliver  up.  quietly  all  that  you  possess.  If  you  resist, 
we  shall  take  your  life." 

'*  He  has  stolen  the  money  and  the  woman  too, 
and  we  will  relieve  him  of  both,"  said  another  of 
the  men. 

**  Don't  parley  with  him,  but  make  haste  and  kill 
him,"  remarked  a  third. 

Ill-prepared  as  was  the  saniurai  to  contend  against 
such  odds,  he  was  not  altogether  unacquainted  with 
the  art  of  fencing,  and,  urged  on  by  the  desperatcness 
of  the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself,  he  drew 
his  sword  and  commenced  to  fight  vigorously. 

Better  armed  than  his  assailants,  at  first  it  seemed 
as  though  he  were  going  to  hold  his  own  against 
them.  Several  of  them  fell  wounded  around  him  ; 
but  his  lack  of  training  began  ere  long  to  shew  itself 
in  failure  of  strength,  and,  the  men  surrounding  him 
on  all  sides,  he  found  it  no  longer  possible  to 
protect  himself  against  the  blows  of  their  clubs. 

Having    time    after   time    been    struck,    he   began   to 


30        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

feel  that  all  was  over,  when  his  attention  was  suddenly 
attracted  by  a  great  stir  and  hubbub  which  was 
taking  place  among  the  robbers.  He  looked  anxiously 
in  the  direction  of  the  noise,  when  lo,  and  behold  ! 
a  giant  form  dashed  into  the  midst  of  his  foes. 

*'  A  new  assailant,"  thought  the  sanmrai  for  a 
moment.  But  no — the  new  arrival  was  not  such.  In 
an  instant,  man  after  man  fell  before  the  crushing  blows 
of  a  heavy  iron-bar,  which  this  giant-warrior  wielded 
as  though  it  were  no  heavier  than  a  feather,  until 
not  a  robber  was  left,  and  the  samurai  found  himself 
confronted  by  this  mysterious  stranger.  Was  he  a 
friend  or  a  foe  ?  His  general  appearance  and  his 
arrival  on  the  spot  at  such  an  hour  seemed  unmistakably 
to  indicate  that  he  was  the  latter.  He  perhaps  was 
the  head  of  anotlier  gang  of  robbers  and  had  come 
for  the  purpose  of  plundering  the  plunderers. 

The  reader  does  not  need  to  be  told  that  this  new 
arrival  was  Hanshiro.  Attracted  by  the  loud  weeping 
of  the  lady,  who,  while  her  husband  was  being 
attacked,  had  been  tied  to  a  tree,  Hanshiro  had 
found  out  the  scene  of  the  affray.  To  him  the  work 
of  slaying  or  scattering  a  dozen  robbers  was  mere 
child's   play. 

While  the  sanuirai  and  his  poor  frightened  wife 
were    thinking    that  they  had   but    *'  escaped    from   the 


Tm:ifftrtiiffi 


\ 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  3I 

wolf  to  be  devoured  by  the  tiger,"  Hanshiro  made 
known  to  them  who  he  was,  and  told  them  how  he 
had  obtained  the  information  which  had  enabled  him 
to  put  in  such  an  opportune  appearance. 

The  satmirai  was  badly  wounded.  Hanshiro  attended 
to  his  w^ounds,  and  then  bade  the  married  couple 
enter  one  of  the  palanquins.  When  they  had  entered, 
Hanshiro  struck  his  hands  together  and  exclaimed  : — 
*'  There  ?iozu !  I  was  a  stupid  not  to  have  kept  two 
of  those  fellows  alive  and  made  them  bear  the 
palanquin  back  to  Kumagaya  !  Well,  *  an  after- 
thought is  as  good  as  no  thought  at  all.'  So  I 
must  make  a  shift  somehow  and  carry  them   myself." 

Hanshiro  took  his  two  swords  and  his  iron-bar, 
and  tying  them  to  the  end  of  one  pole  of  the  palanquin, 
managed  to  partially  balance  the  weight  of  the 
persons  inside,  and  tli,en,  making  up  for  the  deficient 
weight  by  heavy  pressure  on  the  other  end, 
succeeded  in  bearing  the  conveyance  along  the  road. 
Tremendous  as  was  the  strength  required  to  carry  a 
heavy  burden  any  distance  after  this  fashion,  Hanshiro, 
who  had  trained  himself  to  succumb  to  no  obstacles 
whatever,  managed  to  convey  the  travellers  back  to 
the   little  tavern   at   Kumagaya. 

Knocking  at  the  door  of  the  inn,  he  shouted — *'  Eh  ! 
HachigorO  ! — I  was  just  in  time  !     I  have  come  back  !  " 


32        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A  VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

The  doctor  was  in  readiness,  and  the  samuraVs 
wounds  were  promptly  attended  to. 

On  inquiry,  Hanshiro  found  out  that  the  samtirai 
was  from  Echigo  ;  that  his  name  was  Shindo  Ichinojo  ; 
that  he  had  been  a  retainer  of  Matsudaira,  Echigo- 
no-Kami,  the  Baron  of  Takata  ;  but  that  for  an  offence 
committed  for  which  he  expected  heavy  punishment, 
he  had  left  the  Baron's  service  ;  and  that  one  Ohashi 
Bun-emon  had  assisted  his  flight  and  supplied  him 
with  money  for  his  journey  to  Edo.  Ichinojo,  then, 
was  on  his  way  to  this  place,  when  the  incidents 
which  we  have  just  described  took  place. 

HanshirO,  who  though  too  full  of  fortitude  to 
know  what  it  was  to  fear  danger,  had  a  heart 
capable  of  deep  sympathy  for  the  distressed.  He 
listened  with  deep  interest  to  Ichinojo's  tale  of 
suffering,  and  at  its  close,  offered  to  conduct  the 
married  couple  to  Edo  in  person  and  to  set  them 
up  in  business  there. 

So  after  they  had  remained  some  ten  days  at 
Kumagaya,  Ichinojo's  wounds  being  healed,  Hanshir5 
paid  all  the  expenses  that  had  been  incurred  at  the 
inn,  and,  bearing  a  letter  from  Hachigoro  to  his 
brother — Chobei,  who  kept  a  small  tavern  in  Bakuro- 
cho  known  as  the  Musashiya,  the  party  set  out  for 
Edo  ;  which  they  reached  without  any  further  mishap. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  33 

Hanshiro  remained  in  Edo  about  a  month  with 
Ichinojo  and  his  wife  :  on  the  expiration  of  which 
time,  after  making  them  a  present  of  twenty  ryoy 
exhorting  them  to  be  diligent  in  business,  and 
requesting  Chobei  to  do  all  he  could  to  help  them, 
he  took  his  leave,  and  set  out  for  Marugame, 

Having  passed  through  Kanagawa,  Hanshiro  was 
on  his  way  to  Hodogaya,  when  he  was  accosted 
by  a  man  who  was  walking  behind  him  as  follows  : — 
''  If  it  is  not  a  rude  question  to  put,  may  I  ask 
for  what  part  of  the  country  you  are  bound,  sir  ?  " 

**  I  am  going  to  Marugame,  in  Sanuki,'*  replied 
Hanshiro. 

*'  I  am  from  Omi,"  said  the  man,  ''  and  am  now 
on  my  way  home,  and  so  our  road  is  the  same. 
If  you  have  no  objection,  I  should  like  to  keep  you 
company  as  far  as   Omi/' 

**  Well,  there  is  a  saying  : — *  Go  to  Omi  for 
robbers  and  to  Ise  for  beggars,'  "  replied  Hanshiro. 
''So  it  will  not  do  for  me  to  be  off  my  guard 
w^th  an  Omi  man  as  a  travelling  companion." 

'*  The  gentleman  is  fond  of  a  joke,  I  see,"  replied 
the  man.  '*  Because  people  have  given  the  Omi  folks 
a  bad  name,  it  is  not  to  be  so  supposed  that  every 
man  who  comes  from  that  part  of  the  country  is 
a   rogue.      I    am   a   trader   who   has   been   to   Edo   on 


34        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

business.  Having  plenty  of  money  in  my  purse, 
and  the  road  being  somewhat  dangerous,  I  should 
be  glad  to  have  protection  on  the  way.  The 
gentleman  being  an  honourable  knight,  I  shall  feel 
quite  safe  if  allowed  to  travel  in  his  company." 

*'  Very  good  then,''  replied  Hanshiro,  **  you  may 
accompany  me  if  you  will." 

For  some  days  they  travelled  together.  The  Omi 
man  grew  more  and  more  familiar,  until  after  some 
days  he  spoke  and  acted  as  though  he  had  known 
Hanshiro  for  twenty  years.  This  gradually  awakened 
the  latter's  suspicions  ;  so  one  night,  while  the  two 
were  drinking  sake  at  an  hotel  at  which  they  had 
put  up,  Hanshiro  determined  to  bring  the  matter 
to  a  point.  He  quietly  remarked  : — '*  It  is  said  that 
this  Tokaido  is  infested  with  those  robbers  in  disguise 
known  as  Gorna-fio-haiy  who  pretend  the  greatest 
friendship  to  travellers  and  then  take  the  first 
opportunity  of  robbing  them  unawares.  You  seem 
to  me  very  much  like  one  of  these." 

''  I  am  discovered,"  thought  the  man.  **  But  Hanshiro 
has  no  proof  to  go  on,  and  therefore  he  can  do 
nothing." 

"  So,  without  a  change  of  countenance,  he  replied  : — 
''  Well,  the  gentleman  is  fond  of  saying  extraordinary 
things.      Had    I    been    a    robber,    do   you   suppose   I 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  35 

should  have  travelled  with  you  all  these  days  without 
robbing  you  ?  "  Thus  saying,  the  man  took  another 
cup  of  sake. 

''  A  keen  fellow  this  !  "  thought  Hanshiro.  **  He  is  not 
to  be  caught  napping.  I  will  lay  a  snare  for  him,  how- 
ever, and  make  him  shew  himself  in  his  true  colours/' 

''So  then  you  are  not  one  of  the  sharpers  of 
whom  I  have  heard,"  said  Hanshiro.  **  To  tell  you 
the  truth,  I  am  rather  anxious  to  meet  with  one  of 
those  fellows,  to  see  whether  he  could  get  over  me 
or  not.  Here,  see  !  I  have  a  hundred  rj/o  !  "  taking 
the  money  out  of  his  pocket  and  shewing  it  to  the 
man,  ''  suppose  now  that  you  were  a  rogue,  I  would 
defy  you  to  take  this  from  me."  Then  pausing,  he 
qidded  : — ''  But  I  am  forgetting  the  proverb — '  Though 
the  thief  may  take  his  ease,  the  man  who  wishes 
to  keep  his  property  never  should.'  Perhaps  I  am 
presumptuous  in  boasting  in  this  way." 

This  was  done  in  order  to  inform  the  man  that 
there  was  money  to  be  had  and  to  induce  him  to 
take  prompt  action.  The  man  was  aware  that  Hanshiro 
was  very  fond  of  sake,  and  so  he  thought  that  the 
best  way  of  acting  would  be  to  induce  him  to 
drink  himself  tipsy  and  then  rob  him  while  he  w^as 
in  a  dead  sleep.  So  he  urged  Hanshiro  to  help 
himself  to  wine  freely. 


36       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

Hanshiro  saw  what  was  intended  and  his  fertile 
mind  immediately  suggested  to  him  that  by  first 
feigning  to  be  tipsy,  and  afterwards  pretending  to 
be  asleep,  he  could  catch  the  man  in  his  own  trap. 

So,  after  taking  as  much  sake  as  would  have 
intoxicated  most  men,  but  which,  from  long  use  and 
great  strength  of  constitution,  had  no  serious  effect 
on  him,  Hanshiro  pretended  to  be  quite  tipsy.  He 
sang  songs  and  shouted,  much  to  the  annoyance  of 
his  next  door  neighbours,  who  remonstrated  with  him, 
though  in  vain,  till,  at  last,  he  stretched  himself  out 
on  his  bed  and  pretended  to  fall  asleep.  His  money 
lay  near  him  beneath  the  quilt  in  a  long  purse, 
a  part  of  which  was  under  his  body. 

He  -  had  not  been  \n  that  position  long,  before 
his  travelling  companion,  creeping  stealthily  over, 
seized  the  money  and  was  about  to  flee,  when 
Hanshiro,  raising  one  of  his  legs,  placed  it  on  the 
man's  back  and  held  him  down,  whilst  he  shouted  : — 
''A   thief!   a   thief!'' 

Before  the  alarmed  guests  had  entered  the  apartment 
partly  for  his  own,  and  partly  for  the  guests'  amuse- 
ment, Hanshiro  had  covered  the  man  with  a  quilt, 
whilst  he  held  him  tight  between  his  legs.  The 
people  of  the  house  and  the  guests,  after  searching 
the   room,    said   that   there   was   no   thief  to  be  found 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  37 

anywhere.  **  Here  he  is  beneath  the  bed  clothes  !  '^ 
exclaimed   Hanshiro. 

*'  Nonsense  !  "  they  replied  '*  The  idea  of  a  thief 
hiding  beneath  your  quilt.     You  are  humbugging  us  !  " 

*'  Come   and  see  then,"  said  he. 

On  removing  the  quilt,  they  found  the  thief,  looking 
as  though  he  were  in  a  vice,  between  the  gigantic 
legs  of  Hanshiro.  He  had  his  sandals  on  and  all 
his   equipments  ready  for  taking  a  journey. 

**  As  it  is  late  to-night,''  said  Hanshiro  **  we  will 
tie  this  fellow  up  to  the  post  till  daylight."  Thus 
secured,  the  thief  remained  till  the  morning,  when 
he  begged  hard  to  be  forgiven. 

Hanshiro's  feeling  of  pity  overcame  his  sense  of 
justice,  and,  fearing  nothing  himself,  it  concerned 
him  little  how  much  others  had  to  fear  from  the 
liberty  which  he  was  granting  to  this  robber.  So, 
in  an  off-hand  way,  he  said  to  the  man  : — **  Death 
is  the  punishment  the  law  assigns  for  the  crime  you 
have  committed,  but  I  will  spare  you.  You  may  thank 
your  stars  that  you  have  met  with  such  a  man  as  I." 

Here  some  of  the  guests  at  the  hotel  interposed  : — 
*^  It  is  not  right  of  you,  sir,  to  treat  the  man  so 
leniently.  He  ought  to  have  some  mark  put  on  him 
whereby  to  remember  his  crime.  Allow  us  to  deal 
with  him." 


\ 


38        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

"  Very  well  ;  "  replied  Hanshiro  **  as  your  sleep 
was  disturbed  by  him  last  night,  I  suppose  I  cannot 
very  well  say  no." 

*'  The  guests  took  the  thief  and,  after  plucking  the 
hair  from  one  side  of  his  head,  they  tattoed  him  on 
both  the  face  and  the  head  with  ink.  When  they 
had  finished,  Hanshiro  exclaimed  : — *'  That  will  do  ! 
that  will  do  !  ''  Then  calling  the  thief,  he  said  to 
him  : — ''  Let  this  be  a  lesson  to  you  not  to  thieve 
in  future.  Whenever  an  evil  heart  tempts  you  to 
steal,  take  a  look  at  your  tattoed  face  and  say : — 
*  /  had  better  not'  " 

This  little  episode  being  over,  Hanshiro  set  out 
on  his  journey  and  reached  Marugame  without  any 
further  adventures,  where  he  resumed  his  duties  at 
the  fencing-school. 


CHAPTER  in. 

UR     story     returns     to     the     fortunes      of     the 
married    couple   who   were   left   by   Hanshiro    in 
Edo    in    charge    of    Chobei    at   the   Musashi-ya, 
Bakuro-cho.     We    have    already   alluded    to   the   easy 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OE  YORE.  39 

life  which  Ichinojo  had  lived  in  Takata,  and  to  his 
lack  of  all  soldier-like  qualities.  When  forced  to 
make  a  living  for  himself  and  his  wife,  the  deficiencies 
of  his  training  came  more  and  more  to  light. 

Some  days  after  Hanshiro  had  left,  Chobei  came 
to  Ichinojo  one  day  and  said  : — '*  I  think,  sir,  it  is 
high  time  for  you  to  commence  something  whereby 
to  obtain  a  living.  Being  a  samurai,  I  have  no 
doubt  you  know  how  to  fence,  could  you  not  open  a 
fencing-school  ?  " 

*'  Goodness  me  !  "  replied  Ichinojo,  **  I  know 
absolutely  nothing  about  fencing.  How  to  brandish 
a  sword  I  have  no  more  idea  than  the  man  in  the 
moon ;  and  my  knowledge  of  spear-exercise  is  no 
better." 

''  Then ''  replied  Chobei,  ''  I  have  no  doubt  you 
can  write  well,  having  been  educated  as  a  gentleman's 
son.     Why  not  start  a  writing  school  ?  " 

''  This  would  be  impossible",  replied  Ichinojo,  '*  I 
write  a  very  bad  hand." 

'*  Really  !  "  exclaimed  Chobei,  **  Well — let  me  see 
now — what  can  you  do  to  earn  some  money  ?  '^ 
Chobei  turned  his  head  now  on  this  side  and 
now  on  that,  looking  immensely  puzzled  for  a  few 
seconds,  and  then  continued  : — ''  If  you  will  allow  me, 
I   will   tell  you   how   to  make  a  living.      The  thing    I 


40       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

am  going  to  suggest,  though,  is  somewhat  arduous  ; 
but  by  acting  carefully,  you  can  make  it  pay  very 
well.  I  propose  that  you  should  become  a  purchaser 
of  waste-paper  and  such  like  things." 

To  this  the  samurai  consented,  without  realizing 
what  the  following  of  such  an  occupation  involved. 

"  It  will  never  do  for  you  to  have  such  a  grand 
name  as  Shindo  Ichinojo  as  a  waste-paper  buyer," 
continued  Chobei,  ^*you  had  better  change  your  name. 
And  to  shew  that  you  are  connected  with  me,  the 
first  syllable  of  your  name  shall  be  Ch5  ;  and  the 
second  hachi.      Chohachi,   then,  shall  be  your  name." 

Chohachi  took  up  his  quarters  in  a  nagaya"^  near 
Chobei's  house,  where  he  commenced  his  new  life. 

The  first  day,  bearing  with  him  a  scale  of  rates 
at  which  he  was  prepared  to  purchase  paper  and 
other  articles,  that  had  been  drawn  up  by  Chobei, 
Chohachi  set  out  on  his  rounds.  Without  opening 
his  lips,  he  passed  through  the  streets.  As^..he 
walked  along,  he  soliloquized  thus  : — '*  Ah  !  true  is 
the  saying  : — 

*  Of  blossoms  the  cherry  is  the  best : 

*  Of  men  the  knight  excels  the  rest.' 

To  think  that  I,  who  have  been  receiving  two  hundred 


*  A  long  row  of  houses  under  one  roof. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  41 

koku  a  year,  should  have  come  to  this  !  It  is  true 
that  it  was  brought  on  by  my  own  folly  ;  but  it  is 
hard  to  bear  nevertheless.  Oh,  that  I  could  forget 
that  I  was  born  a  samurai!  Though  unknown  to 
those  I  meet,  the  very  sight  of  a  military  man 
makes  me  feel  utterly  ashamed  of  myself." 

With  his  mind  full  of  such  thoughts,  stealthily  he 
crept  along  through  street  after  street,  only  studying 
how  he  should  get  out  of  people's  way.  The 
consequence  was  that,  though  he  carried  a  basket 
in  which  he  was  to  have  to  put  the  articles  that  it 
was  intended  he  should  purchase,  no  one  took  any 
notice  of  him,  and  he  wandered  on  and  on,  till, 
when  night-fall  reminded  him  that  it  was  time  to 
retrace  his  steps,  he  found  himself  far  away  from 
Bakuro-cho,  and  without  a  notion  of  the  direction 
in  which  it  lay.  So,  not  having  the  sense  to  ask 
the  way,  he  paid  two  sen  for  a  guide  to  conduct 
him  back  to  his  house. 

On  reaching  his  home,  he  found  that  Chobei  had 
just  come  over  to  hear  how  he  had  got  on.  Dis- 
appointed enough  was  the  inn-keeper  to  hear  the  result 
of  his  dependent's  first  day's  toil. 

The  next  day  Chohachi  set  out  again  ;  but  he 
found  the  same  difficulty  in  adapting  himself  to  his 
altered  circumstances.      Do  what  he  would,  he  could 


42        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY    OF  ASPECTS. 

not  summon  courage  to  call  out,  "waste-paper  !  waste- 
paper  !  "  The  words  seemed  to  stick  in  his  throat 
when  he  tried  to  utter  them.  But  he  determined  to 
make  an  effort  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  call 
by  repeating  the  words  aloud  in  some  unfrequented 
place  where  no  one  could  hear  him.  So  he  went 
out  to  the  fields  at  the  back  of  the  Asakusa  temple, 
and  in  a  lonely  spot,  where  he  thought  no  soul  could 
overhear  him,  raising  his  voice  to  a  high  pitch,  he 
called  out: — ^^  Kami  kuztc  ya  de  gozai  I — Kuzu  wa 
tamarimasen  ka  I  "  * 

Near  the  spot  which  Chohachi  had  chosen  for 
practising  his  cry,  some  children  were  playing, 
who,  hearing  a  man  shouting  out,  **  waste-paper,"  in 
such  a  place,  thought  that  he  must  be  bewitched. 
*'  Come,  come  !  "  said  one  of  the  lads  to  his  com- 
panions, ''  here  is  a  paper-buyer  that  has  been 
bewitched   by  a  fox  !     Let  us  pelt  him.'* 

Whereupon  they  commenced  throwing  stones  at 
Chohachi  ;  who,  running  away  as  fast  as  his  legs 
would  carry  him,  exclaimed  : — "  This  Edo  is  a  bad 
place,  and  no  mistake  !  Even  the  boys  here  can*t 
let  a  stranger  alone  without  molesting  him." 

Thus    ended    the   second    day's  work  ;   for   Chohachi 

* "  The  waste-paper  man !  Have  you  no  accumulation  of  waste- 
paper  ?  " 


im 


J0^' 


rarrT"ifiritii^tirfii"  i-"--- 


m^  '/t.<fcyit,^v-aag^'"«"  ^i 


mmmmii^i^^mmmimi^ 


:>!*>., 


*& 


^ 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  43 

was   far  too   much   upset    by    this    occurrence    to   do 
anything  more  that  day. 

Chobei  was  excessively  amused  by  the  account 
that  Chohachi  gave  of  his  experiences  on  his  return  ; 
and,  bursting  with  laughter,  he  said  : — '*  It  was  quite 
natural  that  the  boys  should  say  what  they  did  : 
for  who  would  suppose  that  anyone  but  a  madman 
would  be  shouting,  '  waste-paper,'  in  a  place  where 
not  a  soul  resides.  It  is  natural,  too,  for  a  man 
who  has  occupied  your  position  to  be  ashamed  to 
call  out,  *  waste-paper,'  in  the  public  thoroughfares. 
I  can  fancy  how  the  words  must  stick  in  your 
throat.  But  you  must  try  and  get  over  this  feeling. 
I  will  endeavour  to  help  you  out  of  the  difficulty. 
There   is   a   line   of  poetry  which    says  : — 

*  The  small  trader  who, 

*  Day  by  day, 
*Acts  as  a  clock.' 

If  a  hawker  or  purchaser  of  small  things  goes  by 
the  same  places  at  the  same  time  every  day,  gradually 
his  punctuality  serves  to  tell  people  what  time  of 
day  it  is  ;  and  thus  his  regularity  tends  to  attract 
attention  to  himself,  first,  and  then  to  his  trade.  As 
he  passes,  people  say  : — *  There  goes  the  paper- 
buyer  ; '  or,  '  There  goes  the  tea-man  ;'  *  It  is  no 
doubt    such    and    such    o'clock, — it     is    high   time   to 


44       HUMAN  NATURE  IN   A  VARIETY   OF    ASPECTS. 

be  cooking  the  rice  for  dinner  ;  *  or,  *  My  husband 
will  soon  be  home  from  his  work  ; '  or,  *  Ofusa 
will  soon  be  back  from  school  ; '  and  so  there 
springs  up  a  kind  of  intimacy  between  the  residents 
and  the  punctual  tradesman,  which  leads  the  former 
to  prefer  to  carry  on  business  with  him  rather  than 
with  any  one  whose  visits  have  been  less 
frequent  or  less  regular.  Thus  it  is  that  continual 
keeping  at  a  thing,  brings  its  reward  in  the  long 
run.  Now-  there  is  little  use  in  going,  as  you  have 
been  ctoing,  through  the  grandest  streets  of  the 
town.  You  should  go  to  the  back  alleys  and  pass 
the  same  houses  at  the  same  time  every  day,  and 
as  you  pass,  speak  a  civil  word  to  the  inmates 
of  the  houses.  Such  as  : — *  This  is  a  very  cold 
day  ; ' — or,  *  There  is  no  doing  anything  such  rainy 
weather  as  this  ; '  or, — '  A  busy  time  this  Mrs.  Hiko- 
bei  ; '  or,  *  What  a  long  spell  of  hot  weather  we 
are  having.'  Then,  just  before  you  take  your  leave, 
you  should  say  : — *  I  suppose  you  have  not  any  old 
scraps  of  paper  to  sell  ? '  " 

The  next  day  Chohachi  started  on  his  rounds 
again.  Acting  on  Chobei's  advice,  he  went  to 
the  back  alleys,  and  saluted  the  residents  in  a  most 
civil   manner. 

But,  knowing  no  other  language  save  that  in  general 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE,  45 

use  among  samuraiy  and  no  civility  but  that  practised 
by  gentlemen  and  ladies,  his  salutations  were  far 
above  the  heads  of  those  for  whom  they  were 
intended,  and  often  excited  their  laughter.  The 
following  is  a  specimen  of  the  language  which  he 
used  in  addressing  his  would-be  customers  : — **  To- 
day the  weather  is  superb  !  That  you  and  your 
august  family  are  all  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  is 
a  subject  for  the  most  hearty  congratulations,  I  am 
Chohachi,  a  paper-buyer  who  lives  with  a  householder 
named  Chobei  in  the  second  ward  of  Bakuro-cho. 
I  earnestly  beg  that  you  will  be  good  enough  to 
allow  me  to  make  your  acquaintance. — Do  you  happen 
to  have   any  old   paper  to  sell  ?  " 

The  old  women  in  the  back  streets  listened  to 
his  polite  speeches  without  understanding  a  word, 
but  were  very  pleased  nevertheless  ;  for  they  felt 
that  his  looks  and  gestures  shewed  that  he  meant 
to  be  very  polite  to  them.  As  he  was  civility  itself, 
he  went  by  the  name  of  *^  The  Civil  Paper-buyer," 
and  gradually  people  grew  to  be  fond  of  him 
and  preferred  to  deal  with  him  rather  than  with 
anyone  else. 

Thus,  as  had  been  predicted,  Chohachi  became 
unusually     popular ;      and,      with     the     advantage     of 


46       HUMAN   NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

Chobei's  advice  in  all  matters  of  difficulty,  managed 
to  maintain  himself,  his  wife,  and  a  little  girl  who 
had  been  born  to  them  shortly  after  their  arrival 
in    Edo. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HE  uncertainties  of  life  are  so  great,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  say  from  what  affluence 
to  what  poverty  men  may  fall.  The  events 
we  are  now  about  to  relate  afford  a  striking 
illustration    of  this. 

One  day,  some  seventeen  years  after  Chohachi 
had  settled  in  Edo,  he  thought  that  it  was  incumbent 
on  him  to  offer  up  his  thanksgivings  to  Kwan-on, 
the  goddess  of  mercy,  for  the  blessings  he  had 
received.  Though  no  more  of  a  believer  in  super- 
natural help  than  most  of  the  knights  of  his  da), 
occasional  homage  to  the  gods  being  one  of  the 
recognized  obligations  of  a  gentleman,  Chohachi  felt 
that  his  good  breeding  demanded  a  certain  amount 
of  devotion.     So,   with   a  light   heart,    full   of  holiday. 


mi 


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^^"^V''?%K^ 


'^^^^.V 


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H 


"■  ■•S.'.-v.    ■ '  .  '  ■  '0, 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  47 

rather  than  religious,  feelings,  after  arraying  himself 
in  his  very  best  clothes,  Chohachi  set  out  for  the 
Asakusa  Kwan-on  temple,  where  he  made  his 
contributions  to  the  priests  and  offered  thanks  to 
the  goddess. 

After  this,  with  the  intention  of  worshipping  at 
Ueno,  he  started  for  that  place  and  got  as  far  as 
the  foot  of  the  little  hill  which  leads  up  to  the 
temple.  Here  he  noticed  that  a  number  of  beggars 
were  asking  for  alms.  One  of  them  especially 
attracted  his  attention  :  partly,  because  of  the  extreme 
poverty  which  his  dirt  and  rags  seemed  to  indicate, 
partly,  on  account  of  his  wearing  a  fuka-amigasay^ 
and  partly,  owing  to  his  having  a  crest  on  his  ragged 
garments,  which  Chohachi  seemed  to  remember 
having  seen  somewhere  at  some  time  or  other.  On 
thinking  over  it,  Chohachi  remembered  the  crest  as 
that  of  his  old  friend  in  Takata,  Ohashi  Bun-emon. 
With  the  object  of  inducing  the  beggar  to  speak, 
and  of  thus  having  a  further  opportunity  of  testing 
the  correctness  of  his  surmises,  Chohachi  threw  down 
a    few    coppers   in   front   of  him.      These    the    beggar 

*  Lit :    A    deep    braid-work    hat:    so  made    as    to    completely    hide 

the   face   from  view,  resembling  therefore  the  visor  of  the  west.      These 

hats  were  worn  by  men  who  had  some  special  reason  for  not  wishing 
to  be  known. 


48        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

picked  up,  immediately   thanking   for  them  in   a  most 
polite  way. 

Chohachi  no  sooner  heard  the  beggar's  voice  than 
he  said  to  himself: — *' I  am  not  mistaken.  It  is  no 
other  than  Bun-emon." 

Not  wishing  to  confer  with  him  in  any  way  in 
public,  Chohachi  determined  to  follow  the  beggar  to 
his  lodgings  and  satisfy  himself  about  his  identity 
there. 

This  he  did  ;  and  found  that  the  beggar  was 
living  in  an  abominably  filthy  place.  He  occupied 
a  small  room  in  a  very  low  class  nagaya.  The 
nagaya  was  inhabited  by  beggars  of  all  ranks  and 
grades,  who,  at  the  time  of  Chohachi's  visit  were 
engaged  in  practising  over  their  various  arts  and 
devices  for  obtaining  money  :  some  were  training  birds, 
others  monkeys  ;  some  were  dancing,  others  wrestling; 
some  were  imitating  the  cawing  of  the  crow,  the 
screech  of  the  owl,  or  the  roar  of  some  wild  beast ; 
while  others  were  raving  with  cranky  voices  the 
words  of  some  old   song. 

On  Chohachi's  making  himself  known  to  Bun-emon, 
for  such  the  beggar  proved  to  be,  the  latter  gave 
him  the  history  of  his  fall.  Unlike  that  of  Chohachi, 
Bun-emon's  fall  had  been  brought  about  by  no  fault 
of  his  own  ;   on  the  contrary,  it  was  the  result  of  the 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  49 

most  scrupulous  honesty  on  his  part.  Bun-emon 
related  to  Chohachi  how,  as  w^s  so  frequently  the 
case  in  those  days,  his  lord  had  surrounded  himself 
with  flatterers  ;  how  these  flatterers  had  combined 
against  all  the  baron's  most  faithful  councillors  ; 
how,  in  consequence  of  this,  one  after  another,  the 
best  of  his  retainers  had  been  dismissed  from  his 
service,  until  he  (Bun-emon)  was  the  only  one  left  ;  , 
and  how  that  he  had  determined  to  hold  on  and 
endeavour  to  oust  the  flatterers  from  the  position 
they  had  obtained,  but  that  they  had  proved  too 
strong  for  him.  *'  I  might,"  said  Bun-emon,  '*  have 
gone  into  the  service  of  another  lord  ;  but,  as  the 
saying  is  : — *  A  faithful  servant  can  only  serve  one 
master,'  so,  rather  than  take  employment  elsewhere, 
I  prefer  to  wait  for  the  dawn  of  a  better  day — to 
live  in  hopes  of  being  able  at  some  future  time  to 
return  to  the  service  of  my  first  and  only  master, 
Echigo-no-Kami." 

Chohachi  went  home  and  told  his  wife  what  had 
occurred.  The  two  agreed  that,  as  they  were  now 
in  a  comparatively  prosperous  condition,  it  was 
incumbent  on  them  to  make  a  present  of  money  to 
an  old  friend  and  benefactor  who  had  been  reduced 
to  such  abject  poverty.  To  neglect  to  do  this,  would 
be    base    ingratitude.      The     sum    they    fixed    on    as 


so        HUMAN   NATURE   IN   A   VARIETY   OF   ASPECTS. 

suitable  to  the  occasion  was  twenty  five  ryo  ;  rather 
a  large  amount  for  a  waste-paper  buyer  to  provide, 
in  fact,  entirely  too  large  a  sum  for  Chohachi  to 
procure  in  any  ordinary  way. 

After  consultation,  they  agreed  that,  under  the 
circumstances,  painful  as  it  might  prove,  it  was  their 
solemn  duty  to  sell  their  daughter  Ko.  This  they 
did,    receiving    the    sum    of  twenty-five    ryo   for  her."^ 

Shortly  after,  Chohachi  went,  one  night,  to  Bun- 
emon's  house,  and  with  many  apologies  for  the 
smallness    of  the   sum,  presented  the   twenty-five   ryo. 

''  I  appreciate  fully  the  kind  feelings  evinced  by  the 
offer  you  make,"  said  Bun-emon,  ''  but  I  cannot  think 
of  accepting  the  gift.  The  help  I  gave  you  years 
ago,  was  not  afforded  with  the  expectation  of  any 
return  being  made  for  the  same.  I  am  not  so  poor 
but  that,  did  occasion  call  for  it,  I  could  appear  in 
the  Shogun's  ranks  all  equipped  for  battle  at  a 
moment's  notice.  *'  Look  here,"  said  he,  producing  a 
sword,  a  coat  of  armour  and  other  weapons,  which 
were  all  in  good  order,  *'  I  am  not  so  poverty 
stricken  as  my  beggar's  garb  may  seem  to  imply. 
I  have  no  use  for  much  money  just  now.  What  I 
receive  as   charity  is  ample  to  supply  my  few  wants." 

♦  This  was  a  very  common  practice  in  ancient  Japan. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  5 1 

On  Chohachi's  pressing  the  matter,  Bun-emon  grew 
angry,  and  said: — ^*  You  know,  Shindo,  that  having 
once  said  that  he  will  not  do  a  thing,  that  no 
words  of  yours  can  make  Ohashi  Bun-emon  alter  his 
mind.     So  please  say  no  more  about  it." 

Chohachi,  still  continuing  to  press  his  acceptance 
of,  if  not  the  whole,  at  any  rate  a  part  of  the 
money,  Bun-emon  suddenly  left  the  house,  saying  as 
he  went  : — ^*  Excuse  me  !  I  have  some  business  that 
must  be  attended  to  at  once." 

Chohachi  took  this  opportunity  of  placing  the  money 
in  the  tobacco-box  ;  having  done  which,  he  left  the 
house. 

Bun-emon,  on  his  return,  discovered  the  money, 
and  was  very  much  annoyed.  **  You,"  said  he  angrily 
to  his  wife,  *^  womanlike,  have  been  weak  enough 
to  allow  this,  have  you  ?  Why  did  you  not  return 
the  money  to  Shindo  before  he  left  the  house  ? 
It  is  said  that  people  are  no  longer  themselves  when 
they  become  poor,  so  I  suppose  you  have  been 
tempted  by  poverty  to  act  in  this  way.  But  I  am 
extremely  grieved  that  such  a  thing  should  have 
happened." 

The  wife  replied  that  she  had  not  discovered  the 
money  till  after  Shindo  had  left  the  house.  Bun-emon 
wished   to   return  the  money  at   once,    but   as    neither 


52        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

he  nor  his  wife  knew  where  Chohachi  lived,  this 
was  impossible. 

Bun-emon's  wife  was  a  woman  that  had  her  wits 
about  her  ;  and,  seeing  that  her  husband  was  boiling 
over  with  angry  feelings  at  being  left  with  the  money 
on  his  hands,  she  addressed  him  as  follows  : — ''  That 
the  money  cannot  be  returned  at  once,  is  very  plain. 
That  it  is  not  well  for  us  to  keep  so  much  money 
by  us,  is  no  less  plain.  You  have  lately  put  one 
of  your  best  swords  into  pawn.  Suppose  you  redeem 
this  sword,  by  paying  the  sum  borrowed  out  of  this 
twenty-five  ryo^  After  selling  the  sword,  you  can  make 
good  this  money  again.  By  the  time  you  have  the 
money  ready,  Shindo  will  be  paying  us  another  visit, 
and  will  be  only  too  pleased  to  hear  that,  failing 
to  accept  it  as  a  gift,  you  have  notwithstanding 
made  some  temporary  use  of  his  money.  There  is 
every  reason  for  your  doing  something  of  this  kind  ; 
as  the  pawnbroker  is  constantly  coming  and  saying 
that,  if  we  do  not  pay  the  money  at  once,  he  will 
be   obliged  to  sell  the  sword." 

Bun-emon  agreed  to  this  plan  ;  and  the  next  day 
he  went  to  the  pawnbroker's  shop.  The  said  shop 
went  by  the  name  of  the  Aburaya  and  was  kept 
by  one — Gohei.  The  pawnbroker  was  absent  but 
his  head-clerk,  a  man  named — Kyubei,   of  whom  more 


JAPAN  IN   DAYS   OF  YORE.  S3 

anon,  was  at  home  ;  and  to  him  Bun-emon  payed  the 
sum  of  thirteen  ryo  fifty-six  sen  in  redemption  of  his 
sword  and  several  other  articles  ;  which  articles  he 
at  once  conveyed  to  his  house  in  Yamazaki-cho. 

On  reaching  his  home,  Bun-emon  arrayed  himself 
in  his  very  best  attire  and  went  off  to  a  rich  baron's 
mansion  to  sell  his  sword. 

Kyubei,  the  pawnbroker's  head-clerk,  was  extremely 
annoyed  by  the  sudden  arrival  of  Bun-emon  at  the 
shop  for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  the  weapon.  He 
knew  that  the  sword  was  a  very  valuable  one,  and 
he  thought  that  the  money  lent  on  it,  though  not  a 
fourth  of  what  the  weapon  was  worth,  was  far  too 
much  for  such  a  man  as  Bun-emon  to  pay  back.  So, 
up  to  the  morning  of  its  owner's  arrival,  he  had 
looked  upon  the  sword  as  belonging  to  his  master, 
or  rather  as  his  own  property,  for,  to  tell  the  truth, 
Kyubei  was  a  most  dishonest  servant,  and,  having 
carte-blanche  to  do  as  he  pleased  in  the  business, 
he  took  good  care  to  give  his  master  as  few  of  its 
profits  as  possible.  ''  By  this  redemption,''  he  argued 
to  himself,  ^*  I  have  lost,  certainly,  eighty,  perhaps, 
a  hundred  ryo^ 

It  is  only  v/ith  the  worst  of  men  that  disappoint- 
ment prompts  to  malicious  action  against  the  persons 
who  have,  in  some  way,  been  instrumental  in  bringing 


54       HUMAN  NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

it  about.  Kyubei,  however,  was  such  a'  man.  So 
enraged  was  he  by  the  loss  of  the  sword  that  he 
at  once  determined  to  give  vent  to  his  chagrin  by 
ruining  the  man  who  had  robbed  him  of  his  spoil. 
Bun-emon's  poverty  would  have  shielded  him  from 
the  attacks  of  most  men  occupying  the  position  of 
Kyubei.  To  wish  to  persecute  the  powerful  and 
the  rich,  when,  for  some  reason  or  other,  they  have 
excited  hatred,  is  a  feeling  which  is  shared  alike  by 
a  large  number  of  human  beings,  but  the  cases  are 
rare  in  which  a  man  who  is  begging  his  bread, 
becomes  the  object  of  a  malicious  attack,  and  specially 
when  no  result  of  the  persecution  can  be  looked 
for  beyond  the  imprisonment,  and  perhaps  the  death, 
of  the  offender.  But  a  life  full  of  evil  deeds  had 
made  the  dastardly  heart  of  Kyubei  capable  of  all 
this  and  of  much  besides. 

No  sooner  had  Bun-emon  left  the  shop,  than 
Kyubei  resolved  that  he  would  accuse  him  of  theft. 
Knowing  that  the  greater  the  theft  the  more  certain 
would  be  the  ruin  of  the  accused,  and  having  deter- 
mined that,  to  make  up  for  his  disappointment  in 
not  getting  the  sword,  he  would  relieve  his  master 
of  the  sum  of  money  which  Bun-emon  was  to  be 
accused  of  thieving,  Kyubei  fixed  the  sum  at  one 
hundred   rj^o.      Of  this   sum   he   took   immediate   pos- 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  55 

session,  and  set  out  the  same  afternoon  for  Bun-emon's 
house,  to  accuse  him  of  having  stolen  the  money 
when  he  came  to  the  shop  to  redeem  his  property. 

When  Kyubei  reached  Yamazaki-cho,  Bun-emon  had 
not  returned  from  the  baron's  mansion,  whither,  as 
will  be  remembered,  he  had  gone  to  sell  his  sword. 
Before  entering  Bun-emon's  house,  Kyubei,  anxious 
to  pick  up  some  little  information  whereon  to  found 
his  accusation,  chatted  a  little  with  the  beggars  who 
were  lounging  about  near  the  entrance  of  the  house, 
with  most  of  whom  his  occupation  had  made  him 
familiar.  From  them  he  learnt  that  Bun-emon  had 
been  seen  going  away  that  afternoon,  decked  out 
like  a  fine  gentleman,  and  that  people  were  wondering 
where  he  obtained  the  money  to  purchase  such 
grand  clothes,  being  only  a  beggar  by  profession. 

''Just  the  kzjid  of  iiiformation  I  wanted^''  ex- 
claimed Kyubei.  Entering  Bun-emon's  house,  he 
forthwith  accused  him  to  his  wife,  Masa,  of  having 
stolen  that  very  morning  the  sum  of  a  hundred  ryo. 
""  And,"  said  Kyiibei,  ''  in  my  opinion,  my  master 
is  not  the  only  one  who  has  been  robbed  by  your 
husband  ;  for  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  man 
in  Bun-emon's  reduced  circumstances  could  obtain  \n 
any  honest  way  money  enough  to  pay  to  a  pawnbroker 
thirteen   or   fourteen   ryo   at   one   time,   m   addition   to 


56       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

buying  fine  clothes  in  which  to  go  swelling  about 
the  town  like  a  fine  gentleman  whenever  he  takes 
It   into  his  head  to  do  so." 

Masa,  seeing  at  once  that  what  had  occurred  might 
easily  give  rise  to  suspicion  in  the  case  of  anyone 
so  poor  as  her  husband,  after  indignantly  denying 
the  charge  of  theft,  proceeded  to  relate  to  Kyubei 
how  it  happened  that  Bun-emon  was  in  the  possession 
of  so  much  money.  '*  It  was  a  gift "  she  said  *'  from 
a  waste-paper-buyer  named  Shindo   Ichinojo." 

Her  story  was  no  sooner  finished  than  Kyubei 
inquired  where  the  donor  of  the  twenty-five  rj^o 
lived. 

**  This,  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  cannot  tell  you," 
replied  Masa. 

'*  There  you  are  !  ''  replied  Kyubei.  **  The  idea 
of  anyone  receiving  money  from  a  person  whose 
place  of  residence  they  do  not  know  !  The  name  of 
the  person  who,  you  say,  gave  your  husband  the 
money,  too,  was  never  that  of  any  waste-paper-buyer 
in  the  world.  Such  a  name  when  applied  to  a 
grand  gentleman  sounds  natural  enough,  but  used 
of  a  waste-paper-buyer,  what  does  it  sound  like  } — 
why,  a  fictitious  name, — which  I  have  no  doubt 
it  is." 

To    these    retorts,    Masa    replied    with    spirit    and 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  57 

tact.  But  neither  her  arguments,  her  tears,  nor  her 
anger  made  any  impression  on  Kyubei.  He  still 
persisted  that  her  husband  was  a  thief  and  that  he 
would  have  him  sent  to  prison. 

In  the  midst  of  the  altercation  between  the  two, 
Bun-emon  returned.  Kyubei  at  once  met  him  with 
the  words  : — *'  You  are  a  thief." 

The  day  had  been  when  the  utterer  of  such 
words  in  Bun-emon's  ears,  would  have  paid  the 
price  of  them  then  and  there  with  his  life-blood. 
But  Bun-emon  had  assumed  the  garb  and  was  living 
the  life  of  a  beggar,  and,  though  as  valiant  a 
knight  as  ever  brandished  a  sword,  he  was  shrewd 
enough  to  know  that  the  ignominious  social  position 
to  which  his  reverses  had  driven  him  to  descend, 
demanded  that  the  proud  carriage  and  self-assertion 
of  a  great  baron's  retainer,  in  receipt  of  an  income 
of  five  hundred  koku  a  year,  be  exchanged  for  the 
humble  mien  and  retiring  manners  of  the  beggar, 
in  as  far  as  such  was  possible.  He  therefore,  with 
extraordinary  self-restraint,  quietly  but  earnestly  denied 
the  charge  brought  against  him,  and  asked  what 
Kyubei  meant  by  such  an  insolent  accusation. 

As  we  have  already  indicated,  Kyubei  had  set 
his  mind  on  ruining  the  man  who  had  come  between 
him  and   his   gains.      Bun-emon's    remonstrances   and 


$8       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

arguments,  therefore,  were  alike  wasted  on  such 
a  man.  He  treated  them  with  undisguised  con- 
tempt. The  only  answer  he  deigned  to  givQ  to 
Bun-emon's  remarks  consisted  of  a  repetition  of  the 
charge. 

The  clerk's  rudeness  became  more  and  more 
unbearable — his  insulting  speeches  more  and  more 
galling,  till,  at  last,  he  called  out  with  a  loud 
voice: — *' Bun-emon  !  You  are  a  big  thief!  You 
are   an  obnoxious  fellow  !  " 

Bun-emon  could  contain  himself  no  longer.  ''  Say 
that  again,"  he  retorted,  *'  and  you  shall  die  on 
the  spot." 

Again  the  offensive  epithets  were  repeated. 

Bun-cmon's  rage  knew  no  bounds.  Springing  up, 
he  drew  his  sword,  and,  rushing  at  Kyubei,  tried 
to  cut  him  down  ;  but  the  latter,  accustomed  to 
flight,  was  out  of  the  door  in  an  instant. 
Bounding  away  through  the  street,  he  set  up  a  cry 
of,  **  Murder  !  viitrder  !  "  Bun-emon  followed  him 
closely,  but  did  not  get  near  enough  to  reach  him 
with  his  sword. 

Alarmed  by  the  cry,  the  people  came  flocking 
out  of  their  houses  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
The    two    men    had    not    proceeded    far    before   they 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  59 

encountered  some  watchmen-  on  their  rounds,  who 
saw  at  once  what  was  taking  place,  and  tried  to 
apprehend  Bun-emon.  But  he  was  a  powerful  man, 
and  though  he  had  no  inclination  to  use  his  sword 
against  government  employes,  he  was  annoyed  by 
their  interrupting  him  in  his  chase  after  Kyubei, 
so,  one  after  another,  he  tossed  them  from  him,  as 
though  they  were  no  heavier  than  feathers.  But, 
assembling  in  force,  they  at  last  succeeded  in  binding 
him.  He  was  taken  off  to  the  nearest  guard-house, 
and  it  was  decided  that,  pending  inquiry  into  his 
case,  he  should  be  imprisoned. 

His    wife    was    allowed    to    remain    in    her    house, 
but  under  strict  surveillance. 


OHAPTEE    Y. 

HATCHED    from    morning    to    night    and   from 
night   to   morning,    Masa   could   do  nothing  but 
lament  that  the  twenty  five  rjyo  which  had  led 
to  all   this  misfortune  should   ever  have  been  brought 

*  The  chief  duty  of  watchmen  in  those  days  was  the  apprehension 
©f  thieves  and  incendiaries.  The  system  of  night  and  day  watchmen 
that  preceded  the  present  police  system  in  England,  corresponded  to 
the   ancient  constabulary  organization  of  Japan. 


:ijri^ 


a^iUT. 


fiiar^'/r  ocj   :j( 


t   jHib    ;  niiQiioiy 


livtijq 


.OVO    3 


oibni^Mfjc 


o:^ 


ra 


6o       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

to  the  house.  **  Cruel  fate  seems  to  have  set  us  up 
as  a  mark  for  its  arrows  !  "  she  exclaimed.  *'  When 
will  Heaven  be  propitious  to  us  ?  Misfortune  upon 
misfortune  seems  to  be  our  lot  !  From  wealth  to 
poverty ;  from  poverty  to  disgrace,  or,  it  may  be,  to 
an  ignominious  death  !  Such  is  our  life  ! — But  need 
I  despair  ?  Though  we  have  lost  everything  besides, 
our  integrity  we  retain.  Could  it  but  be  known 
that  we  are  upright ;  that  no  dishonesty  has  charac- 
terized our  actions  ;  that  no  meanness  has  tarnished 
the  purity  of  our  hearts  ;  there  would  not  be  wanting 
men  who  would  vindicate  our  cause,  who  would 
readily  become  the  instruments  of  bringing  about 
the  triumph  of  right  over  wrong,  of  virtue  over 
vice.  A  thought  strikes  me  !  The  Btigyo  of  this 
city,  O-oka  Tadasuke,  Echizen-no-Kami  has  the 
reputation  of  being  the  most  discerning  judge  that 
has  ever  presided  over  a  court.  It  is  said  that  no 
amount  of  artifice  ever  embarrasses  him.  In  a  moment 
he  sees  through  the  subterfuges  of  the  wicked  and 
brings  the  truth  to  light.  Could  I  but  gain  access 
to  him,  I  am  sure  he  would  vindicate  my  husband's 
cause  and  punish  this  villain  Kyubei.  But  watched 
as  I  am,  I  fear  there  is  little  chance  of  my  being 
able  to  do  this.  Yet  I  do  not  despair.  Something 
may    occur    to    throw     my    keepers    off  their   guard  ; 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS   OF  YORE.  6l 

and  then  I  will  fly  to  the  house  of  Echizen-no-Kami." 
It  was  not  long  after  these  thoughts  had  been 
passing  through  Masa's  mind  that,  on  the  twelfth 
of  December  A.  D.  1719,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  her  house.  Her  guardians,  who 
consisted  of  the  landlord  and  the  inmates  of  the 
nagaya^  in  which  she  resided,  were  busily  engaged 
in  moving  out  their  goods.  *'  Heaven  has  granted 
my  request  !  ''  exclaimed  Masa,  when  she  saw  what 
was  taking  place.  Speedily  she  seized  the  money 
which  her  husband  had  left  behind,  and  his  two 
swords,  and,  strapping  the  box  that  contained  his  coat 
of  armour  to  her  back,  she  rushed  out  of  the  house. 
The  landlord  saw  her  making  her  escape  ;  and, 
running  after  her,  exclaimed  : — **  The  fire  is  not 
coming  here.  You  need  not  run  away.  Come  back  ! 
come  back  !  " 

He  soon  overtook  her,  and  laying  hold  of  her 
clothes,  was  about  to  lead  her  back  to  the  house. 
But    she   was    a   determined    woman,    and   had    made 

*  It  was  customary  iu  these  times  for  the  landlord  and  inmates 
of  houses  to  receive  orders  from  the  government  not  to  allow  persons 
suspected  of  or  implicated  in  crime  to  leave  their  dwellings.  This 
custom  proved  beneficial:  in  that  it  made  the  landlords  of  houses 
careful  as  to  the  persons  they  received  as  tenants,  and  the  tenants 
themselves  on  the  look-out  for  such  misdemeanours  in  their  neighbours' 
conduct  as  were  calculated  to  bring  trouble  on  all  who  resided  near 
them. 


I.) 


"»"  t  1 


odrfph 


^'>4frn^-,' 


'\r-  rf  ..^   ..        ^, 


fn 


fd     Dl    I 


H 


\^^^    h^ 


f  -".^r 


•'>'> 


::Ct''"0^o      -'t     *i  "■ 


iflJ/t? 


62        HUMAN   NATURE  IN   A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

up  her  mind  to  die  rather  than  be  defeated  in  her 
purpose,  so,  drawing-  one  of  the  swords  that  she 
bore,  she  brandished  it  right  and  left  with  such 
power  and  skill  that  her  pursuer  thought  it  was  as 
much  as  his  life  was  worth  to  approach  her  ;  and 
consequently  allowed  her  to  escape. 

But  the  very  casualty  which  made  it  possible  for 
her  to  escape  from  the  house  in  which  she  was 
confined,  now  impeded  her  progress  step  by  step. 
The  streets  were  thronged  with  people  who  had 
come  out  to  see  the  fire.  Masa,  jostled  from  side 
to  side  in  the  crowd,  and  hindered  by  the  weight 
and  cumbersomeness  of  the  box  of  armour  which 
she  carried  on  her  back,  despaired  of  ever  getting" 
to  the  residence  of  the  Bugyo^  when,  suddenly,  loud 
voices  arrested  her  attention  : — **  Make  way  !  make 
way  !  make  way  for  0-oka  Echizen-no-Kami,  the 
City  Bugyo''  shouted  the   Governor's  body-guard. 

No  words  could  have  been  more  welcome  to  Masa 
at  that  moment.  Just  as  she  was  despairing  of 
being  able  to  go  to  the  house  of  the  man  who, 
she  was  sure,  would  prove  her  deliverer,  he  was 
actually  on  his  way  to  her. 

**  Now  or  never  !  ''  she  exclaimed  ;  and,  pushing 
with  all  her  might,  managed  to  reach  the  spot 
where,    riding    on    his    horse,    the   popular    Governor 


k'  :   '  r?mm^^^^^m 


^ 


^y 


.fvKi«?^i 


**«?• 


JAPAN  IN   DAYS   OF  YORE.  63 

and  Judge  (for  he  was  both)  was  to  be  seen 
making  his  way  to  the  seat  of  the  fire. 

Tadasuke  had  lately  organized  forty-eight  fire- 
brigades  ;  and,  partly  to  see  how  the  firemen  worked, 
partly  in  his  official  capacity  as  the  head  of  the 
police   of  those    days,^'   he  now  made  his  appearance. 

Masa  determined  to  make  her  request  known  to 
the  Bugyo  by  some  means  or  other.  Hearing 
that  he  was  a  compassionate  man,  who  never  turned 
a  deaf  ear  to  a  cry  of  distress,  she  resolved  that 
she  would  arrest  his  attention,  even  though  it  involved 
her  acting  somewhat  rudely.  With  this  intention, 
she  strained  every  nerve  to  get  near  the  Bugyo's 
horse,  but  was  thrown  to  the  ground  by  the  pressure 
of  the  crowd.  And  there  she  lay  on  the  road  which 
the  feet  of  the  Governor's  horse  were  about  to  tread. 

No  better  position  could  she  have  possibly  chosen, 
had  it  fallen  to  her  lot  to  choose,  for  attracting 
the  Btigyos  attention.  The  kindly  feeling  of  that 
noble-hearted  man  was  immediately  elicited  by  the 
picture  of  helplessness  and  utter  forlornness  which 
Masa  presented  as  she  lay  on  the  ground  with  the 
box   on   her  back  and   the   swords  in   her  hands. 

*  At    this    time,    the  Bugyo,  in   addition   to  his  numerous   municipal 

and   judicial   duties,  used  to  perform  the  f  nnctions  of  the  head  of  police  ; 

which  corresponded  to  those  performed  by  the  Keishi-Sohan  of 
modem  times. 


64       HUMAN  NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

*'  Help  that  woman,  will  you  !  "  said  the  Btigyo 
to  one  of  his  retainers. 

No  sooner  was  Masa  lifted  from  the  ground  by- 
one  of  Tadasuke's  followers,  than  she  seized  the 
bridle  reins  of  the  Bugyo's  horse  and,  despite  the 
angry  remonstrances  of  his  attendants,  refused  to 
relax  her  hold.  Looking  up  into  the  Governor's 
benevolent  countenance,  she  said  : — **  Please,  my  Lord, 
I  have  an  important  matter  to  speak  about,  which 
concerns  my  husband's  life.  I  humbly  beg  your 
Honour  to  lend  an  ear  to  my  tale/' 

*'  The  woman  is  mad  ,  "  said  one  of  the  attendants. 

**  Obstinate  creature  !  "   exclaimed   another. 

'*  Drag  her  away  !  "  added   a  third. 

**  Let  there  be  no  rough  handling  of  the  woman," 
commanded  the  Bugyo,  **  There  is  something  im- 
portant connected  with  her  husband  which  she  wishes 
to  relate  to  me.  This  I  am  willing  to  hear  ;  but 
as  nothing  can  be  done  in  this  hubbub,  let  her  be 
placed  in  charge  of  the  nearest  7ianushi'^  till  I  send 
for  her." 

Directly  the  fire  was  over,  Tadasukc  went  in 
person  to  the  place  to  which  Masa  had  been  sent 
— a   practice    of  which    he   was   very   fond  ;    for    there 

*  The  head  of  a  city-ward  or  a  village,  now  called  a  Kochs. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  6$ 

was  no  one  more  given  to  breaking  through  the 
conventionalities  of  official  life  than  he.  *^  Your 
request  that  I  would  lend  an  ear  to  your  tale,  is 
granted,"  said  the  Bugyo  to  Masa.  ''  I  have  now 
come  to  hear  it." 

After  expressing  her  gratitude  for  his  condescension, 
Masa  related  the  tale  of  her  many  misfortunes  to 
the  Bugyo.  At  its  close,  he  asked  why  she  carried 
such  a  heavy  box  about  with  her. 

**  This,"  she  said,   **  contains  my  husband's  armour.". 

The  Bugyo  ordered  the  box  to  be  opened.  On 
being  informed  that  it  was  locked,  and  that  Masa 
did  not  know  what  had  become  of  the  key,  the 
Bugyo  told  his  retainers  to  call  a  locksmith  to 
open  the  box. 

**  Why  call  a  locksmith  }  "  asked  one  of  his  followers. 
^'  Why  not  break   open  the  box  }  " 

*'  Nothing  of  the  kind  shall  be  done,"  said  the 
Bugyo,  '*  My  being  the  city  Bugyo  does  not  give 
me  the  right  to  injure  another  person's  property." 

The     locksmith     was     called     and     the      box     was 

opened.      It    was    found    to    contain    a    fine    coat    of 

armour,     and    beneath   it   a   small    paper   parcel  :    this 

last   immediately    caught    the   Bugyo  s    eyes.      It    was 

sealed  at   each   fold    of  the  paper  to   prevent  any  but 

its     owner     from      opening     it,      and      on     the     out- 

E 


66        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

side  the  following  words  were  inscribed  : — *'  Money 
borne  by  Ohashi  Btm-emon'^  Mijiamoto-rio-Kiyozumi  to 
the  battle  of  Sekigahara,  in  the  fifth  year  of 
KeichoT  (A.  D.  1600).  On  the  paper  being  opened, 
it  was  found  to  contain  gold  coinsf  to  the  value  of 
one  hundred  ryo. 

It  was  customary  m  those  days  for  soldiers  to 
carry  money  with  them  to  the  field  of  battle.  This 
money  was  designed  to  serve  for  funeral  expenses, 
\{  they  perished  ;  for  doctor's  bills,  if  they  were 
wounded,  or  to  cover  personal  expenses  during  a 
long  campaign,  when  required  for  this  purpose.  In 
feudal  times  each  soldier  of  any  rank  bore  his  own 
expenses  in  time  of  war.  This  was  the  condition 
on  which  he  received  grants   of  land  from  his  lord. 

To  return  to  our  story,  the  Bugyo  was  immensely 
pleased  to  be  in  possession  of  the  fact  which  the 
contents  of  the  box  had  revealed.  Echizen-no-Kami 
was  a  man  who  was  always  on  the  look  out  for 
the  display  of  virtue  m  the  lives  and  experiences 
of  the  poor  and  the  persecuted,  and  posterity  is 
indebted  to  him  for  bringing  to  light  hundreds 
of    noble     actions     which,     but     for     his     painstaking 

*  The  grandfather  of  the  man  mentioned  in  this  tale. 

t  Kohwfi. ;  a  coin  equal  to  four  bit.  The  sum  mentioned  would  be 
the  equivalent  of  about  $500  at  the  present  daj. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  €7 

investigations,  would  have  been  consigned  to  lasting 
oblivion.  *'  Here,"  said  the  BiigyOy  *'  is  a  case  of 
a  man,  who,  notwithstanding  his  extreme  poverty, 
forbore  to  spend  the  money  that  was  bequeathed 
to  him  by  his  ancestors.  He  kept  it  for  some 
occasion  when  his  own  services  might  be  required 
in  defence  of  the  Shogun."  Then,  after  looking  well 
at  the  swords,  Tadasuke  continued  : — '*  These  swords 
are  not  the  swords  of  an  ordinary  soldier.  Bun-emon 
is  doubtless  a  knight  of  wide  renown.  Would  such 
a  man  thieve  ? — Never  i "  Turning  to  Masa,  he 
said  : — '*  Your     case      shall     have     my     attention     at 


once." 


The  Biigyo  lost  no  time  in  summoning  the  parties 
concerned.  Among  them,  the  first  persons  examined 
were  the  pawnbroker  Gohei,  and  Kyubei,  his  clerk. 

The  first  question  the  Biigyo  put  to  Gohei  was  : — 
y^  For  what  time  precisely  do  you  lend  money  on 
security  ?  " 

''  In  accordance  with  your  honourable  decision'^,  for 
eight   months  ;  "   replied   Gohei. 

**  If  this  be  so,  why  was  Bun-emon  informed  that 
after  the  fifth  month,  in  case  his  goods  were  not 
redeemed,   they  would  be  forfeited  ?  " 

*  This  referred  to  a  regulation  which  had  been  recently  enforced 
bearing   on  loans. 


68        HUMAN  NATURE  IN   A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

**  I  have  not  the  least  idea  ;  "   replied  Gohei. 

"  Don't  talk  such  nonsense  !  "  rejoined  the  Bugj/o. 
*'  Fancy  a  pawnbroker  ignorant  of  his  own  business  !  " 

"  The  arrangement  of  such  details  as  your  Honour 
is  inquiring  about,  I  entrust  to  Kyubei/'  replied 
the  pawnbroker,  **  and  therefore  I  beg  that  your 
Honour  will  examine  him  in  reference  to  them." 

On  being  questioned  about  the  matter,  Kyubei 
said  : — *'  It  is  true  that  eight  months  is  the  fixed 
time,  but  at  Bun-emon's  request  I  made  it  five." 

**  Well,  there  are  fools  in  the  world,  indeed  !  '' 
exclaimed  the  Btigyo^  laughing.  *'  Who  would  have 
thought  that  such  a  man  as  Bun-emon  could  be 
found  }  While  allowed  to  keep  the  money  for  eight 
months,  if  convenient  to  do  so — to  bind  himself 
to  return  it  in  five  !  A  rare  man  this  Bun-emon  ! 
— Well,  we  will  take  it  for  granted  that  such  a  man 
really  exists,  and  suppose  that  what  happened  was 
just  what  you  represent.  The  next  question  I 
have  to  puf  has  reference  to  the  hundred  7yd.  What 
proof  have  you  that  Bun-emon  took  the  money  }  " 

*'  The  proof  I  have  is  this,"  replied  Kyubei.  *'  The 
day  before  the  sword  and  the  other  articles  w^ere 
redeemed,  Bun-emon  came  to  our  shop  and  begged 
me  to  be  lenient  with  him.  It  wms  on  this  night 
that  the  money  was  found  missing.     The  next  morning, 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  69 

Bun-emon  brought  the  thirteen  ryo  and  redeemed 
his  property.  Now  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that, 
in  one  night,  a  beggar  such  as  he  could  by  any 
fair  means  procure  such  a  sum  of  money.  "^^  When 
I  inquired  where  he  had  obtained  the  money, 
his  answers  were  all  most  evasive,  and  I  could 
get  no  satisfactory  information  out  of  him.  I  told 
him  that  I  would  let  him  off  the  thirteen  ryo^  if 
he  would  return  the  hundred  which  he  had  taken, 
but  he  refused  to  do  it.  In  fact,  he  was  so  angry 
v/ith  me  for  accusing  him  of  the  theft  that  he  tried 
to  kill  me." 

Kere  the  Bttgyo  cast  a  scrutinizing  glance  at  Kyubei. 
The  marks  of  tattoing  that  were  visible  on  one  side 
of  his  head,  close  to  the  temples,  did  not  escape 
the  Judge's  keen  eyes.  This,  combined  with  several 
unprepossessing  features  of  Kyubei's  face,  were 
pretty  sure  indications  to  one  so  versed  in  human 
physiognomy  as  Echizen-no-Kami  that  Kyubei  was 
not  the  man  he  pretended  to  be.     His  bare-facedness 

*  It  will  bo  observed  that  in  several  particulars  the  account  of 
■what  occun*ed  given  here,  differs  from  that  found  some  pages  back. 
The  most  natural  way  of  explaining  the  discrepancy,  is  to  suppose 
that  Kyubei  altered  his  tale  when  under  examination  to  make  it 
sound  more  plausible.  Nothing  is  said  in  the  early  account  about 
Bun-emon's  having  gone  to  the  shop  the  day  previous  to  that  on 
wliich  the   redemption  of  the  articles  took  place. 


70       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

seemed   to   the   Judge   to    be   like   that   of  one   whose 
heart  had  been  hardened  by  a  life  of  crime. 

"  Your  answers  become  more  and  m.ore  unsatis- 
factory," said  the  Judge.  ''  As  the  thirteen  ryo 
was  due  to  your  master,  and  not  to  you,  what 
right  had  you  to  exonerate  Bun-emon  from  pay- 
ment ? " 

To  this  no  answer  was  given. 

*' Have  you  any  proof,"  continued  Tadasuke,  ''that 
the  thirteen  ryo  paid  to  you  consisted  of  coins 
taken  from  the  hundred  ryo  which  you  say  was 
stolen  ?  Did  you  place  any  mark  on  the  coins  of 
which  the  hundred  7yd  consisted  .  by  which  you 
might  know  them  again  }  " 

**  I   did   not  ;  "  replied   Kyubei. 

'*  Then  your  assertions  are  all  without  an  iota  of 
proof,"  said  the  Biigyo,''  and  more  than  this,  you 
appear  to  be  a  rogue  yourself.  You  evidently  have 
not  dealt  honestly  with  your  master's  property." 
Then,  turning  to  Gohci,  he  added  : — '*  Gohei,  see  that 
this  man  does  not  leave  your  premises.  You  are 
responsible  for  his  re-appearance  at  court."  ^ 

Orders   were   given   to   the   city   authorities   to    take 
care  that  Kyubei  did  not  make  his   escape. 

Bun-emon    was    now   called   and   closely   examined. 
After     minutely     questioning     him     in     reference     to 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  7I 

everything  which  had  taken  place,  the  Bngyo  said  : — 
**  Bun-emon,  there  is  not  one  particular  in  which 
your  account  differs  from  that  given  by  your 
wife  Masa." 

The  Btigyo  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  Bun- 
emon  was  not  the  thief  But  he  thought  it  best 
not  to  set  him  at  liberty  till  the  real  criminal  was 
discovered.  **  I  am  sorry,"  he  said  to  Bun-emon, 
''  that  I  have  to  send  one  who  has  acted  as  you 
have  back  to  prison.  But  the  law  leaves  me  no 
alternative." 

The  next  step  the  Judge  took,  was  to  endeavour 
to  find  out  who  was  the  donor  of  the  twenty- 
five  7yd,  With  this  object,  he  sent  orders  to  those 
heads  of  the  city  wards  whom  it  concerned,  to  the 
effect  that  all  the  waste-paper-buyers  residing  in 
Bakuro-cho,  Yokoyama-cho,  and  the  vicinity  of 
Ryogoku-bashi,  were  to  appear  at  Court  on  a 
certain   day. 

The  waste-paper-buyers,  all  in  a  great  state  of 
alarm  as  to  what  had  occurred,  on  the  appointed 
day  made  their  appearance  at  Court.  Bun-emon  was 
directed  to  scan  them  narrowly,  to  see  whether 
Shindo  Ichinojo  was  among  them. 

A  look  of  bitter  disappointment  came  over  the 
face    of  the   brave   knight  as   he   finished    scrutinising 


72        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

the  faces  before  him.  '*  Alas  !  "  he  sighed,  '*  it  seems 
as  though  fortune  was  never  going  to  smile  on 
Bun-emon  again."  A  tear  was  seen  to  steal  down 
his  cheek  as  he  said  : — **  I  am  sorry,  sir, — but 
Shindo  Ichinojo  is  not  among  the  men  whom  you 
have  been  good  enough  to  summon.** 

''  I  am  sorry,  too,"  replied  the  Judge  ;  *'  but  I 
will  try  other  means  of  eliciting  the  truth." 

The  reason  of  the  non-appearance  of  Chohachi  was 
that,  having  some  business  in  Marugame  connected 
with  a  younger  brother  of  his  who  had  taken  up 
his  residence  there,  and  being  anxious  to  see  his 
old  friend  and  benefactor,  Hanshiro,  he  had  gone 
to  Marugame  some  time  before  the  issuing  of  the 
summons   to   the   waste-paper-buyers. 

Chohachi     spent     some     days    in     conversing     with 
Hanshiro.     At  the  close  of  which,    the  latter  decided^ 
that    he     had     lived     long     enough     in     comparative 
obscurity,     and    that    he    would    do    well    to    go    to 
Edo  and  set  up  a  fencing-school  there. 

So,  entrusting  his  fencing-school  to  one  of  his 
pupils,  and  bidding  farewell  to  his  friends,  in 
company  with  Chohachi,  Hanshiro  set  out  for  the 
Shogun's   capital. 

On  their  arrival  at  Chohachi's  house  in  Bakuro- 
cho,    his    wife    exclaimed  : — *'  I    am    glad    you    have 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  73 

come.  I  did  not  know  how  to  wait  for  your 
return.  There  has  been  no  end  of  fuss  here  !  In 
the  beginning  of  December  it  was  reported  that  a 
samurai  residing  in  Shitaya  had  been  accused  of 
theft  and  arrested ;  and  some  days  after,  all  the 
waste-paper-buyers  of  this  neighbourhood  were  sum- 
moned by  the  Bugyo  to  appear  at  Court.  I  am 
very  much  afraid  that  the  money  we  gave  to 
Bun-emon  has  been  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble. 
But,  not  knowing  Bun-emon's  address,  I  could  not 
inquire  into  the  matter." 

The  next  morning  Chohachi  held  an  interview 
■with  Masa,  and,  after  learning  from  her  what  had 
happened,  promised  to  appear  at  Court  as  a  witness 
and  vindicate  her  husband's  honesty. 

Chohachi  now  lost  no  time  in  conferring  with 
Chobei  and  Hanshird  as  to  the  steps  it  was 
necessary  for  them  to  take  to  prove  Bun-emon's 
honesty  and  to  bring  Kyubei  to  justice.  Chobei 
was  for  writing  a  polite  letter  to  the  Bngyo^ 
stating  just  how  things  stood  and  offering  to  give 
information  on  the  case.  But  Hanshiro,  on  hearing 
how  Kyubei  had  acted,  and  that  as  yet  he  had 
not  been  punished  for  his  misdemeanours,  was  for 
going  to  the  pawnbroker's,  and,  taking  the  law  into 
his  own  hands,  administering  some  wholesome  reproof, 


".'  0 


.0    -IIJ 


74        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

in  the  form  of  heavy  blows  on  the  back  of  the 
offender,  previous  to  their  reporting  Chohachi's  arrival 
to  the  authorities.  In  order  to  carry  this  out,  he 
induced  Chohachi  and  Chobei  to  shew  him  the  way 
to  the  pawnbroker's  shop. 

^'  Do  you  go  and  confer  with  him  first,"  said 
Hanshiro,    '*  and  if  he  is   troublesome,  call  me." 

This  they  did  ;  Hanshiro  waiting  very  impatient- 
ly outside,  till,  at  last,  being  summoned,  he 
dashed  into  the  house,  and  before  Kyubei,  who 
Avas  a  great  coward,  could  make  his  escape, 
seized  him  and  tumbled  him  about  like  a  nine-pin, 
cuffing  him  with  his  hands  and  knocking  his  head 
against  the  floor.  '*  An  outrageous  villain  of  a  clerk, 
indeed  ! — stealing  your  master's  things,  and,  not 
content  with  this,  imputing  your  crimes  to  others  ! — • 
Do  you  think  you  are  going  to  be  let  oft'? — Not 
a   bit   of  it." 

**  Please,  Sir  Knight,  forgive  me  !  please  forgive 
me  ! "  cried  the  clerk.  *'  I  will  do  anything  you 
bid.  Please  spare  me  !  I  will  tell  the  truth  ! 
Really   I   will!" 

**  See  that  you  do  then,"  replied  Hanshiro.  **  If 
you  don't,  you  know  what  to  expect." 

The    three    men    returned    to    Bakuro-cho,   and   at 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE,  75 

once  sent  in  a  request  to  the  authorities  that  they 
might  be  called  as  witnesses  in  Bun-emon's  case. 

The  next  day,  orders  were  received  from  the 
Bugyo  summoning  every  person  residing  in  Gohei's 
house,  with  the  exception  of  Kyubei,  to  the  Court, 

On  their  appearing,  a  young  man  named  Jusuke 
was  the  first  to  be  examined.  He  stated  that  he 
was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  had  been  in  the 
service  of  Gohei  for  the  space  of  ten  years. 

'*  You  are  a  persevering  young  fellow  to  remain 
in  one  place  so  long,"  remarked  the  Bugyo.  **  Has 
any  one  been  dismissed  from  Gohei's  service  within 
the  past  few  years  ?  " 

*^  Yes  ; "  replied  Jusuke,  *'  a  friend  of  mine,  one 
Tosuke,  was  dismissed  last  June,  on  account  of  his 
suffering  from  eye-disease." 

^*  What  is  Tosuke  doing  now  ?  How  is  he  situated  ? 
Has  he  parents  ?      Is  he  married  ?  " 

**  He  is  not  doing  anything  to  get  a  living.  He 
IS  a  single  man,  living  with  his  sister ;  and  has 
no  parents." 

"  How  old  is  his  sister  ?  " 

'*  About  eighteen." 

**  How  do  they  manage  to  live  ?  Does  any  one 
supply  them  with  money  ?  " 

**That  I  do  not  know." 


ninof 


UP.     i 


>  -•  I 


'liv/iif    b^'fn   ^•I.■ 


^6        HUMAN  NATURE  IN   A  VARIETY   OF  ASPECTS. 

**  I  suppose  you  are  in  the  habit  of  paying  visits 
to  inquire  after  Tosuke's  health  from  time  to  time  ? 
Tell  the  truth,  if  you  please  ;  and  hide  nothing." 

**  I  do  not  pay  such  visits." 

The  Bugyo  now,  turning  to  Gohei,  said  : — **  As 
Tosuke  is  an  old  servant  of  yours,  I  dare  say 
you  visit  him  sometimes  ? " 

**  No  ; "  replied  the  pawnbroker,  **  I  do  not  go 
myself,  but  I  think  Kyubei  often  goes." 

**  Very  good  ; "  replied  the  Bugyo^  making  a  note 
of  the  answer  given  by  Gohei.  **  Now  you  may  all 
go  with  the  exception  of  this  little  boy,"  pointing 
to  a  small  boy  called  Sankichi,  aged  ten  years, 
who  was  employed  by  Gohei,  and  had  come  to  the 
Court  with  the  other  members  of  the  household. 

The  boy  was  very  much  alarmed  by  being  detained 
in  this  way,  and  commenced  to  set  up  a  bellowing 
in  the  Court  House. 

'*  Come,  come  !  "  said  the  Btigyd,  **  There  is 
nothing  to  be  afraid  of.  Here,  look  !  I  have  a 
manju^  for  you.  Don't  be  shy.  Eat  it,  that's  a 
good  boy  !  I  have  kept  it  for  you  specially, 
because  you  are  such  a  clever  little  fellow." 

When    he    had    finished    eating    one   of  the   cakes, 

♦  A  cake,  made  of  wheat-flour,  sweetened  with  sugar,  and  haying 
mashed  beans  in  the  centre. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  ^^ 

Tadasuke   gave  him   another,    and    then   allowed   him 
to   play   about  a   little   \n   the   Court   House,   until  he 
felt   quite    at    home    with   the  officer  he   had   dreaded 
so     much.      After    praising    him    a    little     more,    the 
Bugyo   commenced  : — ''  Now,   there   are   some  matters 
about   which   I   wish   to   ask   you.       Be   sure   you   tell 
me   the   truth   about   everything  ;    if  you   don't   I   will 
not  send  you  back   to  your  parents,  nor  shall  you  go 
to   the   Aburaya  any  more.      Now  you  very  often  go 
to   Tosuke's   house   in   company    with    Kyiibei,   eh  i^ — 
You   see  how  well  we   officers   know  what  you  do  !  " 
'*  To  be  sure   I   do,''  said   the   boy.       **  How    does 
the  honourable  Bugyo  get  to  know  about  such  things, 
I    wonder }      Well,    I   like   to   go  to   Tosuke's   house 
with   Kyubei,   because   Kyubei   always    has    a   smiling 
face    when    he    goes   to  Tosuke's,   whereas,   when   at 
the  pawnbroker's,  he  is  often  very  cross." 
'*  Ah,  to  be  sure,  that  is  very  natural." 
Tadasuke     thought     there     was     little     doubt     that 
Kyubei    had    made    the    inmates    of    this    house    his 
confidants,  and  that  the   money  stolen  was  intrusted 
to  their  car^.     So,  his  object  being  to  find  out  exactly 
where    the    house    was    situated    without     its    getting 
to   the   knowledge   of    Kyubei    that    he    was    on    the 
scent,   he   continued   in   the   same  strain  of  pretended 
omniscience  : — **  In    going    to    Tosuke's    house,    you 


IniibBno ) 


ids  ^ 
avn>q 


-GriV/  )X  ^V 


78        HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

go-away-up  there."  Here  the  Bugyo  made  a  motion 
with  his  head,  in  a  way  that  to  a  sharp  adult 
would  have  appeared  to  be  very  indefinite,  but 
which  to  the  unsuspecting  and  admiring  mind  of  the 
child  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  place  was  well 
known  to  the  speaker,  and  continued,  **  You  then 
turn  and  go  to  a  back  house." 

**  Exactly,"  exclaimed  the  boy.  **  It  is  behind  a 
fruiterer's  house,  and  to  the  left  of  a  large  well." 

**  To  be  sure  !  "  replied  the  Bugyo  ;  '*  and  a  little 
further  on  than  the  well,  eh  }  " 

**  It  is  !  it  is  !  Well,  I  never  would  have 
thought  it  !  if  the  honourable  Bugyo  does  not  know 
everything  !  " 

**  You  are  a  clever  boy  ! "  replied  the  Bugyo. 
'*  Now  you  may  go  home.  But,  look  here  !  You 
are  not  to  say  a  word  about  anything  that  you 
have  mentioned  to  me.  Remember  that  now  ! — If 
you  say  anything,  I  shall  be  sure  to  hear  of  it. 
For  the  Bugyo  knows  everything,  you  see  !  " 

*'  I  will  not  say  anything  about  it,  sir "  ;  replied 
the  lad,  and  forthwith  returned  to  the  pawnbroker's 
house. 

After  Sankichi  had  been  in  the  house  some  little 
time,  Kyubei  came  to  him  and  asked  : — **  Why  did  the 
Bugyo  keep  you  back  ?      What  did  he  say  to  you  } " 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  79 

Sankichi  remained  quite  silent. 

Whereupon,  Kyubei  angrily  put  the  same  question 
to  him.  But  not  a  word  did  the  wary  lad  utter, 
thinking  that  Echizen-no-Kami  might  be  listening 
somewhere,  as  he  seemed  to  know  everything. 

Kyubei's  suspicions  were  now  thoroughly  aroused, 
"Things  are  beginning  to  look  ugly,"  he  muttered 
to  himself.  **  This  lad  evidently  knows  something 
that  he  will  not  reveal,  and  Hanshiro,  too,  is  a 
man  who  is  not  to  be  deceived.  I  had  better 
think  about  absconding,  or  I  shall  find  that  it  is 
too  late  to  do  so.  But  if  it  comes  to  this,  I  may 
as  well  carry  off  a  little  more  than  I  have  already 
appropriated  ;  as  the  saying  is  : — *  If  you  eat  poison 
don't  stop  at  the  plate.' ^  I  will  take  all  I  can 
and  be   off." 

That  night  Kyubei  stole  into  the  pawnbroker's 
shop,  and,  taking  all  the  most  valuable  things  he 
could  find,  made  them  up  into  a  parcel  ;  and  then, 
going  to  the  place  where  the  money  was  kept,  he 
quietly  took  possession  of  the  moderate  sum  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  ryo  (equal  to  over  fifteen  hundred 
at  the  present  day),  and,  after  girding  on  a  sword 
(one  of  the  best  that  was  in  pawn),   was  just  making 

*  "  Tis  as  well  to  be  hung  for  a  sheep  as  a  lamb,"  conveys  the 
game  idea. 


fyA 


,qori2 


jDiU    ir;.  .'  ->    •.iioj 


't  9mna 


,00131* 


80       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

his  escape  when,  in  one  of  the  verandas  of  the 
house,  he  encountered  his  master's  only  son,  a 
young  man,  then  about  twenty  years  of  age,  who 
was  somewhat  demented.  **  Ah,  Kyubei !  "  exclaimed 
the  son  with  a  loud  voice.  **  Where  are  you  off  for 
at  this  time  of  night  ? " 

"  The  devil  take  it  !  "  ejaculated  Kyubei  to  himself. 
**  I  shall  be  discovered  through  this  fool  !  There — 
die  ;  you  idiot  !  "  he  muttered  between  his  teeth  as, 
thrusting  his  sword  into  the  young  man's  mouth, 
he  killed  him  on  the  spot. 

Pushing  the  murdered  man's  body  under  the 
veranda,  Kyubei  made  his  way  out  of  the  house 
as  rapidly  as  possible.  There  happened  to  be  a 
watchman  passing  the  house  at  the  time,  who  just 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Kyubei  as  he  glided  out  of  the 
door.  The  whole  thing  was  so  rapid  that  Kyubei 
thought  it  was  hardly  possible  that  the  watchman 
could  have  seen  him.  So,  instead  of  running  away, 
he  crouched  down  behind  a  water-tank,  where  he 
hoped  to  conceal  himself  till  the  man  had  passed. 
But  the  watchman's  suspicions  were  aroused,  and, 
summoning  several  of  his  companions,  he  walked  up 
to  the  spot  where  Kyubei  was  secreted  and  arrested 
him  on  suspicion. 


■^^T'T^^^^^'^^^^r^mi^ 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  8l 

Ever  ready  with  his  tongue,  Kyubei  tried  to  induce 
the  men  to  release  him.  But  on  his  clothes  being 
examined,  they  were  found  to  be  covered  with  blood, 
and  so  deception  became  an  impossibility.  The 
inmates  of  the  house  were  aroused,  the  murdered 
man  was  found,  and  the  occurrence  was  at  once 
reported  to  the  City  Bugyo. 

Kyubei  had  now  forfeited  his  life  by  this  his  last 
criminal  act.  But  Tadasuke  was  anxious  to  induce 
him  to  confess  that  he  was  the  perpetrator  of  the 
crime  which  he  had  imputed  to  Bun-emon,  but  of 
which  overwhelming  evidence  went  to  shew  that 
he  himself  was  the  author. 

The  state  of  the  law  in  Japan  in  those  days  was 
very  peculiar.  However  conclusive  the  evidence  to 
prove  that  a  certain  person  had  committed  a  crime 
might  be,  unless  that  person  confessed  with  his  own 
lips,  that  he  was  the  perpetrator  of  the  crime,  and 
was  prepared  to  set  his  seal  to  the  confession  when 
written  out,  no  punishment  could  be  assigned.  This 
it  was  that  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  inducements  to  a  judge  to  make  use  of  torture. 
The  work  of  a  judge,  with  the  law  in  the  state 
it  then  was,  whenever  an  obstinate  criminal  was 
under  trial,  became  most  tedious  ;  and  in  order  to 
expedite   matters,  torture  was  had  recourse  to.     With 


If    \3. 


M   f'o: 


ijjii^b  /i;.;  ^(d   ^ubhorIjui>  bib 


82       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

Echizen-no-Kami,  however,  torture  was  one  of  the 
last  resorts.  He  first  tried  every  other  means 
imaginable  to  elicit  from  criminals  a  confession  of 
their  guilt.  And  he  was  usually  successful.  The 
tedious  questionings,  the  heaping  of  evidence  on 
evidence,  to  which  he  resorted  in  the  present  case 
to  induce  the  criminal  to  confess  his  guilt,  would 
occupy  too  much  space  if  reproduced  in  full  here, 
though,  as  proofs  of  the  wonderful  perseverance 
and  ingenuity  of  the  judge,  they  are  well  worth 
careful  examination  in  detail.  We  shall  content 
ourselves  with  just  stating  the  outlines  of  the  process 
adopted  by  the  Bugyo,  not  to  convict  Kyubei  of 
crime,  for  that  was  a  comparatively  easy  matter,  but 
to  induce  him  to  confess  his  guilt. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Kyubei's  case  was 
a  very  peculiar  and  an  extremely  difficult  one.  The 
prisoner  was  a  doomed  man.  No  power  on  earth 
could  rescue  him  from  death.  Seeing  that  die  he 
must,  there  seemed  no  reason  why  he  should  be 
expected  to  gratify  the  authorities  by  giving  evidence 
in  Bun-emon's  case.  But  more  than  this,  there  still 
lurked  in  his  heart  the  most  deadly  hatred  to  Bun- 
emon.  And  the  knowledge  that  his  bitter  enemy 
was  to  perish  by  the  hand  of  the  law,  was  the 
only    solace    which    his    heart,    in    the     depth   of    its 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  83 

depravity,  was  capable  of  appreciating,  and  therefore 
the  only  solace  for  which  he  longed.  If  he  could 
only  feel  that  he  was  not  to  perish  alone,  but  that 
Bun-emon  would  follow  or  precede  him  to  the  land 
of  shades,  he  would  die  content,  if  not  happy, 
Tadasuke  thoroughly  understood  all  this,  and 
effectually   counterbalanced   it. 

After  the  disclosure  of  Kyubei's  latest  crime,  the 
first  persons  examined  in  reference  to  Bun-emon's 
case  were  Chobei  and  Chohachi  ;  the  next  Tosuke 
and  his  sister  Tami ;    and  the  last  Hanshiro. 

In  the  course  of  the  examination  of  Hanshiro, 
it  came  to  light  that  Kyubei  was  no  other  than  the 
robber  that  Hanshiro  encountered  on  the  road  to 
Marugame  and  that  was  tattoed  by  the  guests  at 
the  hotel  nearly  twenty  years  previously. 

Kyubei  stood  in  mortal  fear  of  Hanshiro.  His 
piercing  eye,  his  knowing  looks,  his  huge  physical 
development,  were  something  of  which  the  criminal 
had  the  most  unpleasant  recollections  and  before 
which  he  quailed  with  instinctive  dread.  So,  though 
the  Bugyo  heaped  argument  on  argument  to  prove 
to  Kyubei  that  it  was  useless  hiding  his  crime,  it 
was  not  till  Hanshiro  came  to  address  him  that 
he  began  to  relent.  The  BugyOy  seeing  the  way 
in    which    Kyubei  shrunk  from    Hanshiro,    gave    the 


OJ 


iiO 


84        HUMAN   NATURE   IN  A  VARIETY  OF   ASPECTS. 

latter  full  power  to  deal  with  him,  and  so,  partly 
by  threats,  partly  by  appeals  to  such  sparks  of 
virtuous  or  manly  feeling  as  remained  unquenched 
in  a  heart  so  totally  depraved  as  that  of  Kyubei, 
the  prisoner  was  induced  to  confess  that  he  stole 
the  one  hundred  ryo  and  to  place  his  thumb  on 
the  written  and   sealed   confession   of  his  guilt. 

The  sentences  passed  on  the  persons  implicated 
or  concerned  in  Bun-emon's  case  as  given  in  the 
Q'oka  Meiyo  Seidan  read   as  follows  : — 

(i) — '' Gohei,  the  landlord  of  the  Aburaya,  you, 
having,  though  unwittingly,  harboured  a  thief  in 
your  house,  are  to  be  blamed,  and  might  be 
punished  severely.  Treating  you  leniently,  how- 
ever, I  decree  that  you  pay  one  hundred  ryo  to 
Bun-emon. 

(2) — **  Tosuke,  you,  in  addition  to  giving  shelter 
to  a  robber,  having  made  use  of  money  that  was 
obtained  unlawfully,  also  merit  heavy  punishment. 
But,  on  account  of  your  blindness,  I  take  pity  on 
you,  and  do  no  more  than  require  you  to  pay  a 
fine  of  seven  kwammon,* 

(3) — **  Tami,  t  you,  for  maintaiping  your  brother 
when   he  was   nearly  blind,    are    to    be  commended. 

*  Seventy  cents  then,  the  equivalent  of  five  or  six  times  that  amount  now. 
t  Tosuke's   sister. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YORE.  8$ 

For     this     you     are     to     receive     the     sum     of     five 
kwainmon. 

(4) — **  Musashiya  Ch5bei  and  Goto  Hanshiro,  you 
have  rendered  great  assistance  to  Shindo  Ichinojo 
and  various  other  persons.  These  actions  of  yours 
are  worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  As  a  remuneration 
for  the  same,   I   award   ten   silver  ryo  to  each  of  you. 

(5) — ^'^Chohachi,  your  remembrance  of  the  kindness 
you  received  from  Bun-emon  even  after  the  lapse 
of  years,  was  most  commendable.  For  this  I  award 
to  you  the  sum  of  five  kwammon, 
,  (6) — *'  Ko,  the  daughter  of  Chohachi,  you  were 
obedient  to  your  parents.  In  consideration  of  this, 
the  sum  of  five  silver  ryo  is  awarded  to  you. 

(7) — "  Kyubei,  you,  having  stolen  your  master's 
money,  and,  afterwards,  having  imputed  the  crime  to 
Bun-emon  ;  and  having  subsequently  been  guilty  of 
murder  and  theft,  in  addition  to  committing  various 
other  crimes  previous  to  the  forementioned  ones,  are 
condemned  to  be  exhibited  throughout  the  streets  of 
Edo  and  then  to  be  crucified  at  Asakusa. 

(8) — '*  Ohashi  Bun-emon,  you  are  declared  guiltless. 
You  are  to  receive  the  sum  of  one  hundred  ryo 
from  Gohei,  twenty-five  of  which  is  to  be  expended 
in  repurchasing  the  daughter  of  Shindo  Ichinojo," 


86       HUMAN  NATURE  IN  A  VARIETY  OF  ASPECTS. 

The  above  sentences  are  a  curiosity,  looked  at 
from  a  modern  point  of  view.  The  rewarding  of 
virtue,  as  well  as  the  punishment  of  vice,  was  one 
of  the  functions  of  a  Court  of  Justice  under  the 
Tokugawa  regime.  There  is  a  queer  mixture  of 
law  and  sentiment  in  these  judgments.  They  reflect 
very  distinctly  the  spirit,  the  morality,  and  the  social 
customs   of  the  age  in   which   they  were  passed. 

The  custom  of  selling  daughters  whenever  money 
was  needed  for  some  special  emergency,  is  approved 
of  in  sentence  No.  6  ;  and  Ko  is  commended  and 
rewarded  for  having  bowed  to  one  of  the  most 
degrading  of  practices,  though  the  probabilities  are 
all  against  her  having  any  power  of  choice  in  the 
matter.* 

There  is  something  romantic  about  Bun-emon's 
having  awarded  to  him  the  very  sum  which  he 
was   accused   of  stealing. 

Now,  to  bring  our  story  to  a  close,  we  are 
pleased  to  be  able  to  state  that  the  events  recorded 
above    reached    the   ears    of    Echigo-no-Kami,    Bun- 

*  It  is  stated  in  the  account  given  of  this  case  in  the  0-oka  Meiyo 
Seidan  that  Tadasuke  advised  that,  in  making  proposals  to  her  owner 
for  the  repurchasing  of  Chshachi's  daughter,  a  conciliatory  tone  should 
be  adopted.  Thiji  remark  shews  that  the  law  of  those  days  was 
powerless  to  compel  the  owner  of  a  girl  to  restore  her  to  her  parents 
or   guardians. 


JAPAN  IN   DAYS   OF  YORE,  8/ 

emon's  former  lord,  and  that  he  was  so  impressed 
by  what  he  heard  of  Bun-emon's  conduct  on  this 
occasion  that  he  decided  to  re-install  him  in  his 
former  position  and  grant  him  an  income  of  five 
hundred  koktc  a  year/^ 

The  conduct  of  Hanshiro  was  reported  to  the 
Shogun,  Tokugawa  Yoshimune,  who  was  so  pleased 
with  it  that  he  ordered  Hanshiro  to  be  summoned 
to  his  presence.  When  he  arrived,  the  Shogun  set 
him  to  fence  with  the  chief  fencers  of  his  Court, 
and  on  his  defeating  eighteen  noted  swordsmen  in 
succession,  he  created  him  a  hatamoto^i  and  granted 
him  an  income  of  two  hundred  kokzi  a  year  ;  which 
was  subsequently  increased  to  five  hundred. 

Thus  ends  a  story,  in  which  human  nature  is 
displayed  in  a  variety  of  aspects,  its  bright  and 
its  dark  side,  its  nobleness  and  its  baseness,  forming 
strong  contrasts  to  each  other  in  the  lives  and  the 
characters  of  the  principal  actors  and  actresses  who 
have  appeared  on  the  stage. 

The  curtain  drops  :  but  to  rise  again  and  reveal 
other  scenes. 

*  Equal  to  an  income  of  $3000  at  the  present  time. 

t  A  name  given  to  the  Shdguu's  vassals,  knight-banneret  is  the 
neaiest  English  equivalent  to  hatamotoy  though  the  duties  of  the  latter 
differed  considerably  from  those  of  the  former. 


ENGLISH  WORKS  TO  BE  PUBLISHED 

BY    THE    HAKUBUNSHA. 


JAPAN  IN  DAYS  OF  YOEE. 

BY 
WALTER     DENING. 


PRICE 50  Cts.  per  Vol, 


EACH    volume    of   this    work    will    contain   illustrations   prepared  by 
well-known   artists.      The    object    of   the   work   is   to   portray   the 
life  and  manners  of  old  Japan. 

Vol.     I.,    entitled,     "  IIUITIAN     NATURE     IN    A    VARIETY    OF 

ASPECTS,"  records  how  the  son  of  a  peasant,  Goto  Hanshiro, 
spent  his  life  on  behalf  of  others.  His  encounters  with  robbers,  and 
the  events  that  led  to  his  appearance  before  0-oka  Echizen-no-Kami, 
the  Governor  of  Edo,  are  all  full  of  interest. 

Vol.  II.,  entitled,  "  WOUNDED  PRII>E  AND  HOIV  IT  W  AS 
HEAIiED,*'  is  the  history  of  an  episode  in  the  career  of  Tokugawa 
lemitsu.  It  relates  how  the  Shogun's  pride  was  wounded  in  the 
fencing  ring  by  Abe  Tada-aki,  Bungo-no-Kami,  and  how,  after  several 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  remove  the  feeling  of  aversion  with  which 
the  latter  was  regarded  by  his  master,  the  latent  generosity  and 
chivalry  of  lemitsu's  nature  was  called  forth  by  an  act  of  daring 
that  no  one  but  Tada-aki  and  his  brave  retainer  could  be  induced 
to  perform.,  this  act  being  the  crossing  of  the  river  Sumida  on 
horseback  during  the  great  flood  of  1632  A.  D. 

Vols.    III.    &    IV.,     entitled,      "  THE      LIFE     OF     IHIYAIIIOTO 

JflUSASIII,"  contain  a  full  account  of  the  adventures  of  one  of 
the  most  famous  fencers  of  medioeval  times  and  notices  of  most  of 
the  noted  fencing  styles  practised  in  Japan  in  the  days  of  leyasu, 
Hidetada,  and  lemitsu.  The  Life  of  Miyamoto  Musashi,  in  addition 
to  being  a  history  of  fencing,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
vendetta  stories  that  have  been  handed  down  to  us.      The  life  records 


how,  after  over  twenty  years  search,  during  which,  time  after  time, 
the  hero  of  the  tale  was  within  an  inch  of  losing  his  life,  the  slayer 
of  his  father  was  discovered,  and  how,  after  a  desperate  fight,  he 
killed  his  foe,  comforted  the  spirit  of  his  deceased  parent,  and 
vindicated  the  honour  of  his  clan. 

Vol.     v.,     entitled,     "THE     TRIUIW[I»H[     OF     TSRTITE    ^OTER 

VICE,"  is  a  tale  which  almost  exclusively  concerns  the  lower  orders. 
It  tells  how  Echigo  Denkichi  struggled  against  poverty  and  misfortune, 
how  he  became  the  object  of  the  most  malicious  persecution,  and 
how,  by  the  assistance  rendered  him  by  one  of  the  noblest  of  wives, 
he  lived  to  retrieve  the  lost  fortunes  of  his  house  and  to  occupy  the 
post  of  mayor  in  his  native  town. 

Vol.  VI.,  entitled,   <<  THE   I.IFE   OF   OKUBO  IIIKOZAEMON," 

relates  the  history  of  the  services  rendered  to  the  three  first  Shoguns 
of  the  Tokugawa  dynasty  by  Okubo  Hikozaemon.  Hikozaemon,  being 
as  witty  as  he  was  brave,  and  a  great  part  of  his  life  being  passed 
at  an  eventful  period  of  history,  his  biography,  as  written  by  natives, 
is  surpassed  by  few  for  raciness  and  variety.  It  has  been  the  endeav- 
our of  the  translator  to  preserve  these  characteristics  in  his  reproduction. 
The  title  and  subjects  of  the  remaining  volumes  of  the  Series  will 
be  duly  advertised  later  on. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

THE     r.IFE      OF     TOYOTOITII     IIIOEVOSIII,     in     5     Vols., 

illustrated,    with    notes    and    appendices,    about    360   pages, 
printed  with  type  lately  imported  from  England. 

The  tale  of  Hideyoshi's  life  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  records 
of  the  triumph  of  genius  over  the  most  formidable  obstacles  that 
Japanese  history  contains.  It  tells  how  a  poor,  friendless  lad  rose 
to  be  the  first  lord  of  the  land,  and  how  the  foundations  of  that 
form  of  central  feudal  government  which  leyasu  elaborated  with  such 
consummate  skill  were  laid  by  the  Taiko.  Hideyoshi's  originality, 
fertility  of  resource,  knov/ledge  of  human  nature,  generosity,  courage,  and 
versatility  constitute  him  the  most  remarkable  man  that  Japan  has 
produced. 


«« PRIIVCIPIiE       \*EIlSWrS      INTEREST,*'      3      Tola. 

illustrated,    and    with    extensive    notes. 
This  work  gives   the  history  of  the  way  in  which,  against  enormous 
odds,  three  members  of  the  Kusunoki  family,  Masashige,  Masatsura,  and 
Masanori,  for  over  fifty  years,  adhered  to  the  cause   of  the   rightful   em- 
perors of  Japan.    As  tale  of  a  loyalty  it  is  unsurpassed  in  Japanese  annals. 


A  mSTORV  OF  lilFE,  IIVSTITiTTIOiiVS,  ANI>  IflANNERS 
UNDER  THE  TaKUOATVi|:  81It7€;UNS,  H  Vols. 
This  is  a  translation  of  a  work  corr^iled  by  scholars  connected  with 
the  Hakubunsha.  It  gives  an  account  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  of 
the  state  of  military  and  legal  affairs,  of  courts  of  justice,  and  prisons, 
&c.  &c.  of  the  period  embraced.  The  ^ork  will  be  profusely  illustrated 
and  furnished  with  various  notes  and  Explanations. 

PICTURES  OF  FORTy'^GHT 

I         \ 

TiHESE  pictures  are  to  be  published  in  four  parts.®"-Wffit*  are 
called  the  forty  eight  Taka  include  all  birds  whose  §;lrfuc*:i're  or 
habits  in  any  way  resemble  the  hawk  or  falcon.  The,,  birds  are  all 
sketched  from  life  and  embellished  with  painted  flowers.  The  taste 
and  delicacy  with  which  they  are  executed,  the  beautiful  blending  of 
colours,  the  postures  which  the  various  birds  are  nxade  ^o  assume,  is 
something  quite  exceptional.  Artists  would  derive  immense  profit 
from   a  copy  of  these  pictures  being  always  iieai-  them  when   painting. 

%if 

PICTURES  OF  FLOWERS'AND  BIRDS. 

BY 

TAKI    KWATEI. 


These  pictures  are  printed  from  very  superior  woodcuts,  which 
were  exhibited  at  the  U£no  Industrial  Exhibition  and  highly 
commended.  The  subjects  of  the  pictures  are  tj^tefully  chosen  and 
their  finish  and  execution  very  superior.  '^ 

PICTURES  OF  CHILDREN'S  SPORTS. 

BY 

SENSAI    EITAKU. 


These  pictures  are  vivid  representations  of  the  principal  games 
played  by  Japanese  children.  They  give  a  better  idea  of  the  dress 
and  general  appearance  of  children  of  various  ages  and  both  sexes 
than  could  be  derived  from  any  oral  description  of  the  same. 


Some  of  the  above  mentioned  works  are  already  in  circulation ; 
Others  are  in  the  press.  In  addition  to  these,  the  Hakubunsha  has 
in  course  of  preparation  a  number  of  entertaining  and  learned  works, 
of  whose  titles  and  contents  notice  will  be  given  later  on. 


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